The 2019/20 season Guinness Pro14 will see two re-jigged conferences, but Leinster-Ulster and Munster-Connacht will remain paired together.
Tournament organisers have decided to re-draw the two conferences in the interest of competitiveness, having stuck with the same pools for the first two seasons of the expanded competition.
It means that champions Leinster, and Ulster, will both transfer to Conference A, as will the Dragons, where the will join beaten finalists Glasgow Warriors, the Ospreys, the Cheetahs and Zebre.
And while that means putting last season's two best teams in the one pot, the race for the top three Champions Cup and playoff spaces looks realistically confined to Leinster, Glasgow, Ulster and the Ospreys.
Conference B now looks wide open, where Munster and Connacht will both transfer, as will the Cardiff Blues.
They will sit alongside last season's surprise package Benetton, the Scarlets, Edinburgh and the Southern Kings, with all but the South African side harboring realistic Champions Cup qualification ambitions.
Tournament organisers have outlined the breakdown of the re-jig.
"Using the Conference tables completed after Round 21 of the 2018/19 Guinness PRO14 season, teams were ordered from one to 14 based upon their final points totals and then ranked within their union.
"The criteria for placing teams in each Conference relies on competitiveness and ensuring an equal spread of teams from each union are present in both Conferences. Full methodology and process is listed further in this text."
How the Conferences were drawn
First, all teams were placed into a consolidated table
1 Glasgow Warriors (81 pts)
2 Munster Rugby (77)
3 Leinster Rugby (76)
4 Ulster Rugby (63)
5 Connacht Rugby (61)
6 Ospreys Rugby (58)
7 Benetton Rugby (57)
8 Cardiff Blues (54)
9 Scarlets (52)
10 Edinburgh Rugby (51)
11 Toyota Cheetahs (46)
12 Dragons Rugby (26)
13 Isuzu Southern Kings (22)
14 Zebre Rugby Club (19)
Next each team was slotted into their union ranking
SCO 1: Glasgow Warriors (81)
SCO 2: Edinburgh Rugby (51)
ITA 1: Benetton Rugby (57)
ITA 2: Zebre Rugby Club (19)
SA 1: Toyota Cheetahs (46)
SA 2: Isuzu Southern Kings (22)
IRE 1: Munster Rugby (77)
IRE 2: Leinster Rugby (76)
IRE 3: Ulster Rugby (63)
IRE 4: Connacht Rugby (61)
WAL 1: Ospreys Rugby (58)
WAL 2: Cardiff Blues (54)
WAL 3: Scarlets (52)
WAL 4: Dragons (26)
As the team with the most points Glasgow Warriors were placed into Conference A to allow the population to follow the sequence below:
Conference A
Scotland 1 (Glasgow Warriors)
Ireland 2 (Leinster Rugby)
Ireland 3 (Ulster Rugby)
Wales 1 (Ospreys Rugby)
Wales 4 (Dragons Rugby)
Italy 2 (Zebre Rugby Club)
South Africa 1 (Toyota Cheetahs)
Conference B
Scotland 2 (Edinburgh Rugby)
Ireland 1 (Munster Rugby)
Ireland 4 (Connacht Rugby)
Wales 2 (Cardiff Blues)
Wales 3 (Scarlets)
Italy 1 (Benetton Rugby)
South Africa 2 (Isuzu Southern Kings)
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