Premiership far stronger than the PRO12, claims Jimmy Gopperth

We’re just over 10 years removed from Ronan O’Gara’s famous swipe at the English Premiership, but the debate on the relative merits of that league and the PRO12 will zoom back into focus on Saturday when the respective league leaders clash in a Champions Cup quarter-final in Dublin.

It was in October of 2006 when, in an interview with the Guardian, O’Gara spoke about how he had to watch Premiership games with the sound turned down, such was the level of hyperbole emanating from the mouths of Sky’s match commentators. There was much more besides, but that was the killer line.

Sky don’t screen the Premiership anymore, and the players and even the names of the respective tournaments have changed, but the question as to which competition is the better has waxed and waned over the years without any agreement coalescing.