It may be a brand new year but for the Guinness PRO14 it is business as usual, a Round 10 of action hits the turf to beckon in 2020. There is more derby action, tension across the board and the return of the South Africans – that’s right, the seven-match weekend is back. With that in mind, here are the questions that will be answered come Saturday evening. Can Conference B get any closer? Over a third of the way through the season, and Conference B remains almost as tight as it was before opening day. Just three points separate the top three, while only Benetton Rugby – in sixth – are just seven points behind Munster at the top. It is hard to imagine a scenario that would make things any closer but say Johann van Graan’s men were to lose at Ulster and Benetton beat Glasgow Warriors, we could well be on for a six-team race for supremacy. Will the South Africans hit the ground running? It has been just over a month since we last saw the Isuzu Southern Kings and the Toyota Cheetahs in action – this is the weekend we welcome them back into the fold. With their own derby face-off coming up at the end of January, both outfits will be keen to demonstrate what they have been working on in training. 🚨 TOURING SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨Loubser back in the fold as Kings head for Scotland. BACKS: Yaw Penxe, Bader Pretorius, Sibusiso Sithole, Stefan Ungerer, Andell Loubser, Courtney Winnaar, JT Jackson, Theo Maree, Howard Mnisi, Erich Cronje. pic.twitter.com/7jHw3aXDxd— Isuzu Southern Kings (@SouthernKingsSA) December 31, 2019 The Kings head to BT Murrayfield, facing the daunting task of taking on the in-form Edinburgh Rugby, while the Cheetahs will look to pick up from where they left off when they face Zebre as they target a return to the business end of Conference A. Who will leave Rodney Parade with the points? While in Scotland and Italy the festive derbies have concluded, they continue apace in Ireland and Wales. Ospreys’ trip to Dragons is rich with narrative, with both sides desperate for the points at the bottom of Conference A, the former currently occupying seventh spot, six behind their Gwent rivals. The men in black have won only once in nine attempts this season, with an unenviable injury list doing them no favours. Meanwhile, their opponents will be riding a wave come Saturday in Newport, having toppled the Scarlets 22-20 back in December. And while Ospreys’ away-day form has been left wanting of late, they have lost just one of their last 14 Guinness PRO14 fixtures against the Dragons. ICYMI @RhysWebb9 Webb is coming home to the Ospreys in the Summer 💪We took a look through the archives to bring you some of his best bits in an Ospreys shirt 🏉 href=“https://twitter.com/hashtag/ItsInOurDNA?src=hash&refsrc=twsrc%5Etfw”>#ItsInOurDNA #OurBloodIsBlack pic.twitter.com/Pv6m2mugqH— Ospreys (@ospreys) December 31, 2019 How do Munster respond? For the first time in 22 matches, Munster are entering a Guinness PRO14 match off the back of a home defeat. They were downed by Leinster in a gritty affair at Thomond Park, and will surely have fire in their bellies when they make the trip to the Kingspan to face Ulster. Dan McFarland’s men are themselves in the midst of an impressive run however, with just one defeat in their last seven in all competitions. And they have a fortress of their own to defend on Friday night, having not been beaten in Belfast since October 2018. Blue or Scarlet? The second of the Welsh derbies sees Scarlets standing in the way of Cardiff Blues winning five on the spin in the Guinness PRO14. But, their defeat against the Dragons aside, Brad Mooar’s charges are also a team in fine nick, having won three in their last four. But how the Blues would love something to show for their results, which have not yet translated to upward momentum in the standings given the nature of Conference B at present. A win over the Scarlets, therefore, would catapult them into contention and single them out as a team to beat.
