2016–17 Principality Premiership

2016–17 Principality Premiership
Countries	Wales
Date	2 September 2016 – 21 May 2017
Champions	Merthyr (1st title)
Runners-up	Aberavon
Relegated	none
Matches played	182

The 2016–17 Principality Premiership was the first season of the new format of the Principality Premiership, the top tier of club rugby in Wales run by the Welsh Rugby Union. It was contested by sixteen Welsh clubs following an expansion from twelve teams. The next two seasons will be "ring-fenced" and will have no relegation until the 2018–19 season. The competition was won by Merthyr in their first season in the Premiership. The second tier competition was won by Newport who won their first silverware since the 2003–04 Premiership season.

Structure

The Principality Premiership's structure includes all the teams playing each other once, either home or away, before the table is split into a top 8 and bottom 8 after 15 rounds and points are reset to zero. Each team then plays each other team once, again either home or away, in their respective tier. After all fixtures have been played, a play-off system is implemented for the top 4 teams in each section to determine the winner. The play-off winner of the top 8 will be crowned 2016–17 Principality Premiership champions. This is the first season in which the "ring-fenced" system will be implemented, meaning no team is in danger of relegation until the 2018–19 season.

Teams

After a two-season absence spent in the WRU Championship, Swansea returned to the Premiership finishing as runners-up in the 2015–16 WRU Championship. Also promoted to the Premiership, for the first time, were Championship winners Merthyr, Bargoed and RGC 1404, who narrowly finished above Pontypool to deny them a return to the Premiership after demotion in 2012.

Locations of the 2016–17 Principality Premiership teams with colour markers to represent the region they belong to:

Orange = Newport Gwent Dragons
Blue = Cardiff Blues
Black = Ospreys
Red = Scarlets

RGC acts as a de-facto club representing North Wales

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Area
Aberavon	Talbot Athletic Ground	3,000	Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot
Bargoed	Bargoed Park	1,500	Bargoed, Caerphilly
Bedwas	Bridge Field	2,000	Bedwas, Caerphilly
Bridgend	Brewery Field	8,000	Bridgend
Cardiff	Cardiff Arms Park	12,125	Cardiff
Carmarthen Quins	Carmarthen Park	3,000	Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire
Cross Keys	Pandy Park	3,000	Crosskeys, Caerphilly
Ebbw Vale	Eugene Cross Park	8,000	Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent
Llandovery	Church Bank Playing Fields	3,000	Llandovery, Carmarthenshire
Llanelli	Parc y Scarlets	14,870	Llanelli, Carmarthenshire
Merthyr	The Wern	4,500	Merthyr Tydfil
Neath	The Gnoll	6,000	Neath, Neath Port Talbot
Newport	Rodney Parade	11,676	Newport
Pontypridd	Sardis Road	7,861	Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf
RGC 1404	Eirias Stadium	6,000	Colwyn Bay, Conwy
Swansea	St Helen's	4,500	Swansea

Standings (Phase One)

2016-17 Principality Premiership Table

Team

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points for

Points against

Points diff

Tries for

Tries against

Try bonus

Losing bonus

Points

1

Aberavon

15

11

1

3

475

277

198

67

32

7

2

55

2

Bedwas

15

10

1

4

377

269

108

47

34

6

4

52

3

Merthyr

15

10

0

5

442

323

119

58

36

9

2

51

4

RGC 1404

15

10

1

4

431

281

150

52

32

5

1

48

5

Pontypridd

15

10

0

5

389

373

16

50

43

6

1

47

6

Carmarthen Quins

15

9

1

5

384

305

79

42

39

5

4

47

7

Llandovery

15

8

1

6

416

287

129

49

34

5

4

43

8

Ebbw Vale

15

9

0

6

354

311

43

41

34

4

2

42

9

Cardiff

15

7

0

8

325

314

11

36

38

2

7

37

10

Newport

15

7

0

8

291

339

-48

34

41

3

2

33

11

Llanelli

15

6

1

8

291

367

-76

35

48

4

2

32

12

Cross Keys

15

7

0

8

298

301

-3

36

35

2

1

31

13

Bridgend

15

4

0

11

232

332

-100

21

42

2

4

22

14

Neath

15

4

0

11

254

464

-210

29

57

0

3

19

15

Bargoed

15

3

0

12

196

393

-197

26

44

1

3

16

Swansea

15

2

0

13

239

458

-219

29

63

0

5

13

After 15 rounds, the table is split into two groups (top 8 and bottom 8)

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Number of matches won
Number of tries scored
Total number of points for
Difference between points for and against

Updated: 4 December 2016
Source: "Principality Premiership". allwalessport.

Phase Two

After 15 rounds, the table is split into a top 8 and bottom 8 and points are reset to zero. Each team now plays each other team once, either home or away, in their respective tiers to total 22 games over the entire season. After these 7 rounds, a play-off system is implemented for the top 4 teams of each tier respectively. The winners of the play-offs for Tier One are crowned 2016–17 Principality Premiership champions.

Standings (Tier One)

	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Tries for	Tries against	Try bonus	Losing bonus	Points
1	Merthyr (C)	7	6	0	1	255	132	123	32	17	5	1	30
2	Aberavon (F)	7	5	0	2	174	140	34	23	17	4	0	24
3	Bedwas (SF)	7	5	0	2	168	146	22	18	17	2	0	22
4	RGC 1404 (SF)	7	4	0	3	176	162	14	22	17	3	1	20
5	Pontypridd	7	3	0	4	165	170	-5	21	21	2	1	15
6	Llandovery	7	3	0	4	156	240	-84	19	34	1	1	14
7	Ebbw Vale	7	2	0	5	142	160	-18	18	14	2	4	14
8	Carmarthen Quins	7	0	0	7	128	214	-86	15	31	0	2	2
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Number of tries scored Total number of points for Difference between points for and against
Updated: 7 May 2017 Source: "Principality Premiership Tier 1". allwalessport.

Fixtures (Tier One)

Semi Finals

13 May 2017
14:30

Merthyr	35 – 7	RGC 1404

The Wern

14 May 2017
15:30

Aberavon	31 – 24	Bedwas

Talbot Athletic Ground

Final

21 May 2017
15:30

Aberavon	18 – 22	Merthyr

Talbot Athletic Ground

Standings (Tier Two)

	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Tries for	Tries against	Try bonus	Losing bonus	Points
1	Newport (C)	7	5	0	2	141	107	34	18	13	2	1	23
2	Neath (F)	7	4	1	2	207	141	66	25	17	4	1	23
3	Cross Keys (SF)	7	5	0	2	126	133	-7	15	16	2	0	22
4	Llanelli (SF)	7	4	0	3	172	122	50	23	13	3	2	21
5	Bridgend	7	4	0	3	159	135	24	19	18	3	1	20
6	Cardiff	7	2	0	5	161	160	1	18	21	2	3	13
7	Bargoed	7	2	0	5	124	208	-84	18	27	3	1	12
8	Swansea	7	1	1	5	104	188	-84	13	24	2	1	9
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Number of tries scored Total number of points for Difference between points for and against
Updated: 7 May 2017 Source: "Principality Premiership Tier 2". allwalessport.

Fixtures (Tier Two)

Semi Finals

13 May 2017
14:30

Newport	22 – 17	Llanelli

Rodney Parade

14 May 2017
14:30

Neath	33 – 13	Cross Keys

The Gnoll

Semi Finals

20 May 2017
19:30

Neath	14 – 32	Newport

The Gnoll

External links

Official website

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