2011–12 Pro12

2011–12 Pro12
Countries	Ireland  Italy  Scotland  Wales
Date	2 September 2011 – 27 May 2012
Champions	Ospreys (4th title)
Runners-up	Leinster
Matches played	135
Attendance	1,042,374 (average 7,721 per match)
Tries scored	484 (average 3.585 per match)
Top point scorer	Dan Biggar (Ospreys) (257 points)[1]
Top try scorer	Tim Visser (Edinburgh) (13 tries)[2]
Official website
www.rabodirectpro12.com
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

The 2011–12 Pro12 League (also known as the RaboDirect Pro12 for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th season of the rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, the second with its current 12-team format, and also the first with RaboDirect as title sponsor.^[3][4]

The twelve teams competing were the four Irish provinces, Munster, Leinster, Connacht and Ulster; two Scottish regions, Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors; four Welsh regions, Cardiff Blues, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets; and two Italian clubs Aironi and Benetton Treviso.

The competition was won by Ospreys, who defeated Leinster in the final 31–30.^[5][6][7]

Teams

Team	Coach	Captain	Stadium	Capacity
Aironi	Rowland Phillips	Quintin Geldenhuys	Stadio Luigi Zaffanella	6,000
Benetton Treviso	Franco Smith	Antonio Pavanello	Stadio Comunale di Monigo	6,700
Cardiff Blues	Gareth Baber Justin Burnell	Paul Tito	Cardiff City Stadium[lower-alpha 1]	26,828
Connacht	Eric Elwood	Gavin Duffy	Galway Sportsgrounds	7,500
Edinburgh	Michael Bradley	Greig Laidlaw	Murrayfield Stadium	12,464[lower-alpha 2]
Glasgow Warriors	Sean Lineen	Alastair Kellock	Firhill Stadium	10,887
Leinster	Josef Schmidt	Leo Cullen	RDS Arena Aviva Stadium	18,500 51,700
Munster	Tony McGahan	Paul O'Connell	Thomond Park Musgrave Park	26,500 9,251
Newport Gwent Dragons	Darren Edwards	Tom Willis	Rodney Parade	11,676
Ospreys	Scott Johnson	Alun Wyn Jones	Liberty Stadium	20,532
Scarlets	Nigel Davies	Matthew Rees	Parc y Scarlets	14,870
Ulster	Brian McLaughlin	Johann Muller	Ravenhill	12,300

Table

Pro12 Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Tries For	Tries Against	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1	Leinster (F)	22	18	1	3	568	326	+242	48	28	5	2	81
2	Ospreys (C)	22	16	1	5	491	337	+154	44	22	2	3	71
3	Munster (SF)	22	14	1	7	489	367	+122	45	27	5	4	67
4	Glasgow Warriors (SF)	22	13	4	5	445	321	+124	34	23	2	3	65
5	Scarlets	22	12	2	8	446	373	+73	43	30	5	5	62
6	Ulster	22	12	0	10	474	424	+50	53	41	5	3	56
7	Cardiff Blues	22	10	0	12	446	460	−14	43	45	5	5	50
8	Connacht	22	7	1	14	321	433	−112	27	36	0	7	37
9	Newport Gwent Dragons	22	7	1	14	370	474	−104	27	41	1	5	36
10	Benetton Treviso	22	7	0	15	419	558	−139	41	57	3	5	36
11	Edinburgh	22	6	1	15	454	588	−134	42	65	2	4	32
12	Aironi	22	4	0	18	289	551	−262	22	54	1	5	22
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[8] number of matches won; the difference between points for and points against; the number of tries scored; the most points scored; the difference between tries for and tries against; the fewest number of red cards received; the fewest number of yellow cards received.
Green background (rows 1 to 4) are play-off places. Qualification for the Heineken Cup is based on each country's allocation, i.e. three highest-ranked Irish teams, three highest-ranked Welsh teams, both Italian teams and both Scottish teams. Because Leinster won the 2012 Heineken Cup Final, Ireland earned an extra Heineken Cup place, which will go to Connacht. Aironi were denied a licence for the 2012–13 season due to financial issues; the newly established Zebre side replaced Aironi in the Pro12 and Heineken Cup. Updated 5 May 2012. Source: RaboDirect PRO12

Fixtures

All times are local.^[9]

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Rearranged fixtures

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Playoffs

Semi-finals

---

Final

15 Rob Kearney 14 Fergus McFadden 13 Brian O'Driscoll 12 Gordon D'Arcy 11 Isa Nacewa 10 Jonathan Sexton 9 Eoin Reddan 8 Jamie Heaslip 7 Shane Jennings 6 Kevin McLaughlin 5 Devin Toner 4 Leo Cullen (c) 3 Mike Ross 2 Sean Cronin 1 Heinke van der Merwe Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss 17 Cian Healy 18 John Cooney 19 Nathan White 20 Dominic Ryan 21 Brad Thorn 22 Ian Madigan 23 Dave Kearney Coach: Joe Schmidt

15 Richard Fussell 14 Hanno Dirksen 13 Andrew Bishop 12 Ashley Beck 11 Shane Williams 10 Dan Biggar 9 Rhys Webb 8 Joe Bearman 7 Justin Tipuric 6 Ryan Jones 5 Ian Evans 4 Alun Wyn Jones (c) 3 Adam Rhys Jones 2 Richard Hibbard 1 Paul James Replacements: 16 James King 17 Ryan Bevington 18 Kahn Fotuali'i 19 Scott Baldwin 20 Aaron Jarvis 21 Tom Smith 22 Matthew Morgan 23 Tom Isaacs Coach: Sean Holley

Leading scorers

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under IRB eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-IRB nationalities.

Broadcasting rights

Setanta Sports Australia broadcasts live RaboDirect Pro12 matches in Australia. Setanta Sports Asia broadcast live RaboDirect Pro12 matches in Asia also.

Notes

References

External links

• Official Site
• 2011–12 Celtic League at ESPN