Shane Williams Doesn’t Hold Back In Scathing Assessment Of PRO12 Revamp

Shambolic.

An announcement is said to be imminent regarding the PRO12’s revamp, or at least so we think. It’s been almost a month now since concrete news broke that two South African franchises were expected to join a new revamped PRO14.

Last week PRO12 organisers released a brief statement confirming talks had taken place, but there’s been complete radio silence other than that. As we approach August, we still don’t know what’s going on and it’s becoming a bit of a concern.

Writing in hid regular column for The Rugby Paper, Shane Williams hasn’t held back in his scathing assessment of the whole situation.

“If I’m honest, it’s a complete mess and it’s a situation the league just doesn’t need right now.” Williams wrote.

“I’m all for trying something different and bringing in new teams, but the way it’s been done by the organisers has just been shambolic. Who is in charge of all of this?

“As we head into August we still don’t know the fixture list for the new season and that can’t be doing anyone involved any good at all.”

Williams goes on to say while the players will be able to just focus on getting themselves ready in pre-season, it’s a nightmare for coaches not knowing what’s going on.

“The coaches simply cannot plan for the new campaign without knowing who they’re going to be playing. The fixture list impacts a great deal on how you go about things, especially in the PRO12 where at different stages you’re going to lose players to international duty.