Do the Unions have to much input into the PRO12, to ever make it a rival for the Prem or Top14?

First topic message reminder :

Currently I believe that the Pro 12 contains teams that are at least the equal of teams in the Prem or Top 14, however as a competition I believe it lags way behind these other two.
For Munster last year it was a meer consolation prize, and never counted as much by Ospreys or Leinster when they won it.

IMO, the order of things a club wants to win should be H-cup, domestic League, Amlin cup. However in the Pro 12 the Amlin may possilby rank ahead of the Pro 12.

Compare how happy Saracens fans were to win the Prem and that the French Captain said winning the Top 14 was near as important as winning the World cup, both these leagues are geared to be competative, and winning the H-Cup is only slightly better than winning the League. Compare to the Pro 12 the H-cup counts far and above the Pro 12 title, and the Pro 12 title doesn't matter as much to players and fans of the Pro 12 teams, as the Prem or top 14 does to the players and fans of the Prem and Top 14 teams.

The Pro 12 is not as competitive, and can be viewed as a bit better than a development league, to help young players develop and others to peak for the H-cup and international games, as such it will always struggle to be in the same calss as the Prem and Top 14.

Due to this I believe fans can see it as little more than a series of slightly than better friendlies, and hence will struggle to attract big crowds. All the Unions get to call on their own players more often than in other leagues, meaning they miss more games, meaning the league is a little diminished as a result.

Additional to this IRFU have the player rest periods, where most centrally contracted players only play about 4 out of every 6 games (depending on age, fitness etc), its down to the coach to decide when to rest the player, but mostly they keep them for h-cup games and rest them durning Pro 12 games.

The WRU has added another international game outside the international windows, meaning players will miss more than normal this season, and the SRU before the end of last season listed a numer of players that weren't to play anymore games in case they got injuried before the worldcup.

I don't believe that the Pro 12 will ever mean as much, as the Top 14 or the Prem, as long as the Unions have so much say in it, it will not then ever be taken as serious by the fans, or matter as much, and therefore will never pull in the crowds on a regular basis.

Do you think the Unions have to much input into the Pro 12, and have they a detrimental effect on the League as a competition, or is it balanced well with player development, and a viable competition?

Firstly the bit about the Anglo-Welsh was a bit of a joke (not very good I'll admit).

The HEC place isn't an extra one. Of the 6 English places usually given one goes to the winner of the Anglo-Welsh if they're English. If the Welsh did the same then it would be one of the 3 you already have, gets a little pointless. If an English winner is in the top 6 of the Jeff then it makes no difference.

Wouldn't be pointless though if it was a contestable entity though. As occasionally only three Welsh Regions Qualify, if the the fourth region won beating an English team so that all four Welsh teams went through at the expense of one of the English.

England have six HEC places, Wales have three. It would be against the rules of the competition for any country to transfer any of those places to another country.

The English RFU can decide who qualifies in any way they want, and they choose to pick the top six in the AP or the top five plus the LV winner if they happen to be English.

Wales have three HEC places, so they could equally choose the top three in the Rabo or the top two in the P12 plus the winner of the LV if they were Welsh.