Pro12 still facing testing future ahead of new season

Talk of a possible American expansion has lit the path towards a new Guinness Pro12 season that gets underway tonight but winning over hearts and minds within its current borders remains the main challenge for tournament organisers.

After grand finals in Belfast and Edinburgh, the next showpiece venue would, in a perfect world, have been Cardiff, but Welsh indifference to the league allied to a Principality Stadium boasting a 74,500 capacity meant that neither the numbers nor the logic added up.

So, the Aviva it is next May, then.