Memo to PRO16: Dublin to Cape Town is 15 hours

If Coronation Street is our longest-running soap, then the PRO14 is doing its best to rival it. Its chequered history dates back nearly 20 years, starting with the four Irish provinces, the two Scottish franchises, and nine (!) Welsh teams.

- COLIN BOAG

That rapidly became a league of 12 with the addition of the Scottish Borders franchise, and the Welsh participation being reduced to five, including the ill-fated Celtic Warriors.

Then in 2010, for reasons best known only to the organisers, they added the two Italian teams, creating an additional level of complexity in terms of travel, both for teams and supporters. That was when the PRO12 title was coined, in recognition of the fact that it was no longer purely a Celtic league. Then in 2017 that became the PRO14 when the South African scraps from the Super Rugby table were brought in.

Now we are reportedly going to have yet more nonsense, as it seems the two South African teams that joined might get the boot, to be replaced by the four South African franchises left out in the cold when Super Rugby is replaced by a Trans-Tasman competition.