GUINNESS PRO12: Round 19 Preview

The GUINNESS PRO12 resumes with just four rounds remaining in the hunt for glory. Six teams – all former title winners – are chasing hard to take part in the play-offs while, behind them, sides from all four participating countries are competing to secure their places in next season’s Champions Cup.

All six round 19 matches will be screened live and with so much at stake, it makes for another unmissable round of action on the road to the GUINNESS PRO12 final on Saturday, May 27.

Connacht will make the trip to Myreside on Friday night where Pat Lam’s men will be looking to rebound from their loss away to Zebre last weekend. A victory for the westerners on Scottish soil would all but end Edinburgh’s mathematical hopes of making the Champions Cup play-offs depending on how Cardiff Blues get on against Ulster.
 
Les Kiss’ team need to collect maximum points against the Blues at Kingspan Stadium before they face into their final three games against Munster, Ospreys and Leinster.
 
On Saturday, Zebre will look to put the pressure on Benetton Treviso in their contest to earn the right to represent Italy in the Champions Cup next season – the Newport Gwent Dragons will visit Parma to take on a Zebre team riding high after their famous win over defending champions Connacht.
 
Treviso make the trip to west Wales to face the Scarlets, who are also fighting to inch their way into the top four and take advantage of any points dropped between Munster and Glasgow Warriors who kick off at Irish Independent Park at the same time (7.35pm) on Saturday night.

GUINNESS PRO12 – ROUND 19 FIXTURES:

Friday, April 7 –

Edinburgh (9th) v CONNACHT (7th), Myreside, 7.35pm (live TG4/BBC ALBA)

ULSTER (4th) v Cardiff Blues (8th), Kingspan Stadium, 7.35pm (live BBC 2 Northern Ireland/BBC 2 Wales) Buy Match Tickets

Saturday, April 8 –

Zebre (12th) v Newport Gwent Dragons (10th), Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, 2.30pm local time (live Eurosport Italia)

Ospreys (3rd) v LEINSTER (1st), Liberty Stadium, 3pm (live Sky Sports 1 HD)

Scarlets (5th) v Benetton Treviso (11th), Parc y Scarlets, 7.35pm (live S4C)

MUNSTER (2nd) v Glasgow Warriors (6th), Irish Independent Park, 7.35pm (live TG4/BBC ALBA) Buy Match Tickets

Leaders Leinster face a tough trip to Swansea to take on the Ospreys live in front of the Sky Sports cameras at 3pm on Saturday. The Ospreys are in third place and keen to earn a home semi-final and this result could prove pivotal between the two teams who share the most Championship titles between them.
 
There is a serious history between the side, with the Ospreys winning two finals at Leinster’s home ground in the RDS and this result could put the pair on a collision course to meet once again in the knock-out stages.
 
Leinster face a challenging run-in against the Ospreys, Connacht, Glasgow and then Ulster, and they will need every point they can get their hands on in order to remain in position to secure a home semi-final.

TOP PERFORMERS IN GUINNESS PRO12 AFTER ROUND 18 (Powered by Opta Statistics):

TOP POINTS SCORERS –

Steve Shingler (Cardiff Blues) 128
Tyler Bleyendaal (Munster) 113
Rhys Patchell (Scarlets) 107
Ruan Pienaar (Ulster) 100
Angus O’Brien (Newport Gwent Dragons) 98

TOP TRY SCORERS –

Ronan O’Mahony (Munster) 9
Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) 8
Joey Carbery (Leinster) 8
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) 8
Luke McGrath (Leinster) 7

TOP TRY ASSISTS –

Tyler Bleyendaal (Munster) 11
Sam Davies (Ospreys) 9
Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) 9
Ross Byrne (Leinster) 8
Stuart Olding (Ulster) 8
Duncan Williams (Munster) 8

METRES GAINED –

Tiernan O’Halloran (Connacht) 1705
Matthew Morgan (Cardiff Blues) 1289
Dan Evans (Ospreys) 1246
Charles Piutau (Ulster) 1219
Steffan Evans (Scarlets) 881

MOST CARRIES –

Tiernan O’Halloran (Connacht) 232
Charles Piutau (Ulster) 196
Bundee Aki (Connacht) 190
Dan Evans (Ospreys) 180
Olly Cracknell (Ospreys) 177

CLEAN BREAKS –

Tom James (Cardiff Blues) 22
Ronan O’Mahony (Munster) 21
Charles Piutau (Ulster) 20
Darren Sweetnam (Munster) 20
Dan Evans (Ospreys) 19
Matthew Morgan (Cardiff Blues) 19

DEFENDERS BEATEN –

Charles Piutau (Ulster) 59
Steffan Evans (Scarlets) 45
Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors) 45
Matthew Morgan (Cardiff Blues) 45
Willis Halaholo (Cardiff Blues) 45

MOST PASSES –

Ruan Pienaar (Ulster) 1153
Tom Habberfield (Ospreys) 951
Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) 919
Luke McGrath (Leinster) 830
Duncan Williams (Munster) 806

MOST OFFLOADS –

Charles Piutau (Ulster) 23
Bundee Aki (Connacht) 22
Josh Matavesi (Ospreys) 22
Jake Heenan (Connacht) 20
Rey Lee-Lo (Cardiff Blues) 18
Jack Conan (Leinster) 18
Dean Budd (Benetton Treviso) 18

KICKS FROM HAND –

Sam Davies (Ospreys) 154
Carlo Canna (Zebre) 145
Ruan Pienaar (Ulster) 120
Duncan Weir (Edinburgh) 112
Angus O’Brien (Newport Gwent Dragons) 110

MOST TACKLES –

Sean Reidy (Ulster) 208
Lewis Evans (Newport Gwent Dragons) 205
Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) 204
James Davies (Scarlets) 196
Billy Holland (Munster) 192

LINEOUTS WON –

Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) 122
Macauley Cook (Cardiff Blues) 63
Rory Thornton (Ospreys) 58
Aaron Shingler (Scarlets) 54
Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) 48

TURNOVERS WON –

James Davies (Scarlets) 23
Dan Leavy (Leinster) 23
Ollie Griffiths (Newport Gwent Dragons) 17
Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets) 14
Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) 13

For more statistics, please visit www.pro12rugby.com/powered-by-opta