Busy Upcoming Weekend in the Rabo Direct

Last Friday Ulster had a comprehensive victory over the Scarlets at Ravenhill. Ulster picked up all five points by beating the welsh side 26-13. Paddy Jackson led by example by scoring two tries and put thoughts in Joe Schmidt's head to be a contender for the Irish number ten jersey.

There is a very busy weekend coming up in the Rabo Direct with six games taking place from Friday to Sunday. On Friday evening the Cardiff Blues travel to Swansea to face the Ospreys, first place Leinster host Zebre and Ulster travel to Muarrayfield to play against eighth place Edinburgh.

Cardiff travel to south-west Wales to try regain nineth spot over Connacht. Swansea is a coastal area and is

the second largest city. It has a population of 239000 people.

Zebre are travelling from the north of Italy to face first place Leinster in the capital of Ireland. The Italians come to the RDS in south Dublin to try overtake fellow Italians Treviso. 

This Weeks Fixture and History of Ravenhill

This friday the Scarlets are traveling from the south-west Wales to Northern Ireland to visit Ulster in Ravenhill. This match was postponed from Valentines day due to bad weather in Belfast. Ulster have won two of the last three meetings and both of them being at home. Ulster have only lost once at Rvenhill this season to Glasgow 13-12. Ulster have lost just one of their last seven games in the Rabo Direct and that was in the the capital of Ireland to Leinster. Ulster have a lot to be happy about the back-row Stephen Ferris coming back from inujry on the bench for the first time in over a year. The only Welsh region to have won in Belfast in the last four seasons was the Ospreys in 2013, therfore the welsh side have a lot to do on friday night at Ravenhill At Ravenhill Stadium, 7.05pm. Referee: Neil Hennessy Assistant Referees: Gary Conway, Gary Glennon Citing Commissioner: Wayne Sheridan TMO: Marshall Kilgore Ravenhill was first opened in the 1923/24 season. Ravenhill has held eighteen international matches. The most recent being a warm-up game against Italy in 2007. In 1991 Ravenhill hosted two pool games in the world cup. They also hosted the u19 world champiopnship final in 2007. the stadium has the capcity of around 18000.

INTRODUCTION: What is the RaboDirect pro12 Rugby Competition?

The rabo directrugby pro12 competition consists of twelve proffesional rugby teams. The twelve teams are made up of four teams from Ireland which are Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht. Two scottish teams which are Edinburgh and the Glasgow warriors. Four welsh teams which are Scarlets, Dragons, Ospreys and Cardiff Blues. Finally two italian teams who are Zebre and Treviso. Each team plays every team twice once away and once at home throughout the season. The season is played during the months from September to May. At the end of the season the top four teams go into a play off against eachother. The top team plays against the team in fourth at home and team in second plays the third place team at home. This is the 13th year that this rugby union competition has been run and four years of those thirteen were with the twelve teams and three years with Rabo being the sponsor. If a team loses by less than seven points they get a losing bonus point and if a team scores over four tries they get a bonus point. Each team gets four points for each win, two points for a draw and zero points for a loss.