Iain Morrison: All change in the Rabo but old favourites will be to fore

Andy Irvine chairs the league and the former Scotland full-back pointed out some very satisfactory home truths at the RaboDirect launch last week. The league continues to grow live attendance figures and television audiences. It provided five of the eight Heineken Cup quarter-finalists and, of course, the eventual winners in Leinster.

These are undoubtedly good times for the league and, with the French and English clubs threatening to walk away from the Heineken Cup in its present format, we had better enjoy them while we can.

“Just to add a little spice,” Irvine continued, “there is a Lions tour at the end of the season and I’d be very surprised if there weren’t a large number of players from the RaboDirect included.” So would we all, not least because Wales’ boss Warren Gatland all but confirmed he will coach the tour last week.

Aironi have gone the way of the Norwegian Blue to be replaced by another Italian side, Zebre, so the league should be stronger. Their compatriots, Benetton Treviso, did respectably well last season, equal on points with the Dragons in a share of ninth place, and the Ospreys skipper Alun Wyn Jones was touting them for a top four finish this time round.

The Irish challenge will be strong again. Leinster have not been active over the summer but Munster have had a clearout with stalwarts John Hayes, Jerry Flannery, Mick O’Driscoll, David Wallace, Tomas O’Leary and Lifeimi Mafi all exiting.

The men in red only have a couple of major new signings in Casey Laulau and James Downey but the key question is whether their new coach Rob Penney is the man to halt the club’s slow decline. Ulster too boast a new boss who is under the spotlight like no one else after his predecessor Brian McLaughlin led Ulster to the Heineken Cup final.

In Wales the story is different with the various club backers tightening the purse strings and most provinces helpless to prevent players leaving, most of them clutching French phrasebooks.Cardiff have lost Gethin Jenkins, Laulau and Ben Blair and Luke Charteris has quit Newport for Perpignan. The Ospreys continue to shed players like confetti, 13 leaving to be replaced by two new signings and the Scarlets are without England’s wrecking-ball breakaway Ben Morgan and their talisman Stephen Jones. Welsh sides will rely on home-grown youth but, after their under-20s beat New Zealand in the summer that might not be so bad.

And so to Scotland, where it’s all change at Glasgow with a new stadium, a new head coach and new defensive coach. It is one of the oddities of professional rugby that Glasgow conceded the fewest number of points in the league while Edinburgh leaked the most and yet it was Gary Mercer who was handed his cards to make way for Matt Taylor, who joined from the Queensland Reds and will be coaching the national squad too.

Both teams have recruited well in the summer and, if Edinburgh have the best of the bunch, they need them. The capital’s appalling league form was only underscored by a Heineken Cup run that took them all the way to the semi-finals. Coach Michael Bradley pointed out recently that his side could double the number of league wins this season and still not make the play-offs. New assistant coach Neil Back has won everything there is to win in rugby so let’s hope it rubs off on Edinburgh’s big men.

It’s asking a lot of Edinburgh to go from second bottom to contenders but, by the time the play-off places are decided, Glasgow should be in the mix, along with the usual suspects Leinster, Munster, Ulster and the Ospreys.

There is much about the RaboDirect that is new but the eventual winners are likely to come from the familiar old faces.