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91-779: There are two fully professional Italian clubs that play in the United Rugby Championship , in the European Rugby Champions Cup and in the European Rugby Challenge Cup — Benetton and Zebre . There are twelve semi-professional Italian clubs that play in the Top12 , four of which qualify to play in the European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition to qualify to the European Rugby Challenge Cup . On 25 July 1911

182-796: A Propaganda Committee was formed to promote the sport of rugby union in Italy. In 1928 this body became the Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR). In 1934 the FIR was a founder member of the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur , now known as Rugby Europe . The FIR joined the International Rugby Football Board, later known as the International Rugby Board and now as World Rugby, in 1987 when Italy took part in

273-426: A 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum for the unused brewery. Ten years later, on 19 May 1769, Guinness first exported his ale: he shipped six-and-a-half barrels to Great Britain. Arthur Guinness started selling the dark beer porter in 1778. The first Guinness beers to use the term "stout" were Single Stout and Double Stout in the 1840s. Throughout the bulk of its history, Guinness produced only three variations of

364-412: A Saturday, allowing visiting teams to have a seven-day turnaround between fixtures, including five "clean days" that do not involve any travel. Should the draw see European teams play both South African teams away, the schedule will see the away team play the two matches back-to-back across two weeks, acting as a "mini-tour". On 24 September 2021, URC confirmed that the top side in each regional pool after

455-441: A brief period in 1997. In 2017, Diageo made their beer suitable for consumption by vegetarians and vegans by introducing a new filtration process that avoided the use of isinglass from fish bladders to filter out yeast particles. Guinness stout is made from water, barley , roast malt extract, hops , and brewer's yeast . A portion of the barley is roasted to give Guinness its dark colour and characteristic taste. It

546-641: A four-year deal to broadcast 33 live matches each season. This deal commenced at the start of season 2014–15, Sky have 30 exclusive matches but are only allowed to cover one set of fixtures; for instance, only one Leinster v Munster match was live on Sky with the other on TG4. Regional screening of matches continued, BBC Wales show Scrum V Live on Friday Night with S4C covering a match now on Sunday afternoons. BBC Alba also screened matches, with some also available in English on BBC Scotland, although BBC Alba did offer English language commentary via their Red Button service when

637-425: A full single round robin with three additional 'derby ties' (or one extra derby and two extra Scottish-Italians ties in that pool). The play-offs are made up of the top eight teams, and consist of a straight knockout tournament. Teams are seeded 1–8 and the lowest-seeded teams receive home advantage. The final is held in a pre-arranged venue. Championship points are awarded using the bonus points system ; 4 points for

728-476: A licence to continue on financial grounds. They were replaced by another Italian side, Zebre (now Zebre Parma). Thirty separate teams have taken part in the various versions of the Championship. Of the fourteen teams no longer involved, nine were Welsh premiership clubs, replaced by five new regions. One of those Welsh regions, two South African franchises, One Scottish region and one Italian franchise make up

819-417: A minute, and then topped up with beer from a cask that had been pouring longer and had calmed down a bit. With the move to nitrogen gas dispensing in the 1960s, it was felt important to keep the two-stage pour ritual in order to bring better consumer acceptance of the change. As Guinness has not been cask-conditioned for decades, the two-stage pour has been labelled a marketing ploy that does not actually affect

910-570: A move as a rumor, but as speculation mounted in the wake of the Sunday Independent article, the company confirmed it was undertaking a "significant review of its operations". This review was part of the company's ongoing drive to reduce the environmental impact of brewing at the St. James's Gate plant. On 23 November 2007, an article appeared in the Evening Herald , a Dublin newspaper, stating that

1001-857: A new black lager , in Northern Ireland and Malaysia . As of September 2010, Guinness Black Lager is no longer readily available in Malaysia. In October 2010, Guinness began selling Foreign Extra Stout in 4 packs of bottles in the United States. In 2014, Guinness released Guinness Blonde , a lager brewed in Latrobe, Pennsylvania using a combination of Guinness yeast and American ingredients. When Guinness opened their new brewery in Baltimore, Maryland in August 2018 they recreated "Blonde" to "Baltimore Blonde" by adjusting

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1092-585: A new larger brewery is opened near Dublin. The result will be a loss of roughly 250 jobs across the entire Diageo and Guinness workforce in Ireland. Two days later, the Sunday Independent again reported that Diageo chiefs had met with Tánaiste Mary Coughlan , the deputy leader of the Government of Ireland, about moving operations to Ireland from the UK to benefit from its lower corporation tax rates. Several UK firms have made

1183-599: A new team, Aironi – joined the league starting with the 2010–11 season. Aironi was replaced by Zebre from the 2012–13 season. Through the 2012–13 season, the Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Italian rugby unions used the league as the sole determinant for Heineken Cup qualification, and from 2013–14 they use it as the sole means of qualification for the successor to the Heineken Cup, the European Rugby Champions Cup . Two South African teams - Southern Kings and Cheetahs joined

1274-442: A partnership with Premier Sports and FreeSports to broadcast every Pro14 game live in high definition across the UK for at least the next three years. The agreement, which came into effect for the 2018–19 season, also saw at least one match per round shown live free-to-air on FreeSports. The league is based on regionalised, provincial and franchise representation of the participating nations, except for Benetton which represents

1365-520: A play-off series, in line with other rugby club competitions such as Super Rugby , Top 14 , and the English Premiership : at the conclusion of the regular season, the top four placed teams enter the semi-final stage, with the winner of the first vs fourth and second vs third play-offs entering the final (known as the "grand final" in 2010 and 2011 ). Two Italian teams – the former National Championship of Excellence team Benetton Treviso , and

1456-667: A proposal to join the Celtic League. FIR had two possibilities – either entering four existing Italian clubs from the National Championship of Excellence into the league; or creating two teams of Italy-qualified players exclusively for the competition. On 18 July 2009, the FIR announced that Aironi and Praetorians Roma would compete in the Celtic League from the start of the 2010–11 season – beating bids from Benetton Treviso and Duchi Nord-Ovest. Praetorians would be based in Rome at

1547-448: A public company and was averaging sales of 1.138 million barrels a year. This was despite the brewery's refusal to either advertise or offer its beer at a discount. Even though Guinness owned no public houses , the company was valued at £6 million and shares were 20 times oversubscribed, with share prices rising to a 60 per cent premium on the first day of trading. The breweries pioneered several quality control efforts. The brewery hired

1638-533: A single beer type: porter or single stout, double or extra and foreign stout for export. "Stout" originally referred to a beer's strength, but eventually shifted meaning toward body and colour. Porter was also referred to as "plain", as mentioned in the famous refrain of Flann O'Brien 's poem "The Workman's Friend": "A pint of plain is your only man." Already one of the top-three British and Irish brewers, Guinness's sales soared from 350,000 barrels in 1868 to 779,000 barrels in 1876. In October 1886, Guinness became

1729-622: A strictly European affair. In a 2016 interview with The Irish Times , IRFU CEO Philip Browne indicated that the Pro12 was seriously considering establishing a US franchise on the country's Atlantic coast in the near future, seeing the recent growth of the sport in the US as an opportunity to help close some of the financial gap between Pro12 and Europe's two major domestic leagues, the English Premiership and France's Top 14 . Browne added that Pro12

1820-554: A subscription basis in its first year. Commencing from the 2014–15 season, Sky Sports became one of the league's broadcast partners, broadcasting 33 live games on a Saturday and also showing both the semi-finals and the final live. Its contract concluded at the end of 2017–18 season. Also starting in the 2014–15 season, Italy's Nuvolari began broadcasting the games involving the two Italian clubs live on its digital free-to-view channel. Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh matches were also broadcast live on BBC Radio Scotland . From

1911-417: A system of delivery using a nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas mixture, all beer leaving the brewery was cask-conditioned . Casks newly delivered to many small pubs were often nearly unmanageably frothy, but cellar space and rapid turnover demanded that they be put into use before they could sit for long enough to settle down. As a result, a glass would be part filled with the fresh, frothy beer, allowed to stand

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2002-635: A win and 2 for a draw. Bonus points can be earned so long as teams either score four or more tries in a game or lose by seven points or fewer – should a team do both, two bonus points are gained. As for European qualification, the South African teams are eligible for European competition. As of 2023, the top eight teams qualify for the Champions Cup , with the remaining teams qualifying for the Challenge Cup . With three fewer regular season fixtures than in

2093-422: Is pasteurised and filtered . Until the late 1950s, Guinness was still racked into wooden casks. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Guinness ceased brewing cask-conditioned beers and developed a keg brewing system with aluminium kegs replacing the wooden casks; these were nicknamed "iron lungs". Until 2016 the production of Guinness, as with many beers, involved the use of isinglass made from fish. Isinglass

2184-627: Is Martin Anayi. In 2020 the championship received an investment from CVC Capital Partners who acquired a 28% share in the championship. The organisation's headquarters are at Millbank House, Sandyford , Dublin 18. Starting in the 2010–11 season, the League was broadcast live on BBC Two Wales , BBC Two Northern Ireland , RTÉ , the Irish language channel TG4 , the Scottish Gaelic channel BBC Alba ,

2275-606: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship ( URC ) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in South Africa, and the BKT United Rugby Championship in

2366-413: Is a relatively modern addition that became part of the grist in the mid-20th century. For many years, a portion of aged brew was blended with freshly brewed beer to give a sharp lactic acid flavour. Although Guinness's palate still features a characteristic "tang", the company has refused to confirm whether this type of blending still occurs. The draught beer 's thick, creamy head comes from mixing

2457-564: Is available in a number of variants and strengths, which include: In October 2005, Guinness announced the Brewhouse Series, a limited-edition collection of draught stouts available for roughly six months each. There were three beers in the series. Despite an announcement in June 2007 that the fourth Brewhouse stout would be launched in October that year, no new beer appeared and, at the end of 2007,

2548-592: Is comparable to the Divisional Championships in the NFL which are also loosely geographically based. For the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons, the winners of each Shield were decided on the basis of all 18 regular season games played, and also guaranteed qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup, regardless of their overall league position. However, since the start of the 2023-2024 season, this

2639-712: Is currently owned equally by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). The Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) may become a shareholder subject to it meeting certain conditions. The board of Celtic Rugby DAC is made up of representatives from the IRFU, SRU, WRU, ProRugby Wales, the FIR and the South African Rugby Union. The chief executive

2730-470: Is now prohibited in Ireland. A 2003 study found that stouts such as Guinness could have a benefit of helping to reduce the deposit of harmful cholesterol on artery walls. This was attributed to the higher levels of antioxidants in stouts than in lagers, though the health benefits of antioxidants have been called into question, and Diageo, the company that now manufactures Guinness, said: "We never make any medical claims for our drinks." Guinness stout

2821-449: Is the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. Brewery makes almost €2 billion worth of beer annually. The Guinness Storehouse is a tourist attraction at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over 20 million visitors. Guinness's flavour derives from malted barley and roasted unmalted barley ; the unmalted barley

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2912-588: The Cheetahs and Southern Kings , could be added to Pro12 as early as the 2017–18 season. A later BBC report indicated that the Cheetahs and Kings would be added once their removal from Super Rugby was formally announced on 7 July, though neither Celtic Rugby Limited, the South African Rugby Union , nor the two teams would comment on the report. A week after the Cheetahs and Kings' departure from Super Rugby

3003-419: The English Premiership . In February 2009, South Africa was rumoured to be negotiating entry of its current Super Rugby teams into the Celtic League, to take effect when the media contract between SANZAR and News Corporation expires after the 2010 season; these rumours were immediately denied by SA Rugby, the commercial arm of SARU. In the end, nothing came of these rumours, and the competition remained

3094-592: The SANZAR Super Rugby competition and both sets of naming rights, BKT and Vodacom , were added in the 2022-23 season. Beginning with the creation of the Welsh–Scottish League in 1999, the league became known as the Celtic League when it grew to include teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The league was sponsored by Irish cider makers Magners from the 2006–07 season until 2010–11 , and

3185-535: The Stadio Flaminio , while Aironi would be based in Viadana but would play some matches in the city of Reggio Emilia . On 2 October 2009, the FIR proposed Benetton Treviso in place of Praetorians Roma. On 28 January 2010, the FIR declared that they had withdrawn from negotiations with the Celtic League regarding two Italian teams joining the tournament, with the main issue being a €3 million warranty asked for by

3276-565: The Welsh language channel S4C . The BBC Two Wales matches were usually made available to the rest of the United Kingdom via BBC Red Button . Complete match replays were also available on the BBC iPlayer . Each broadcaster provided feeds to the others for matches in their home territory. While this meant that the league was now available free to air in the UK and Ireland, in Italy it was only available on

3367-581: The 2018–19 season, coverage of the tournament was taken over by Premier Sports in the UK, EirSport in Ireland, DAZN in Italy, and Supersport in South Africa. Coverage of the tournament can be found in other territories – on beIN Sports in France, and on various Setanta Sports channels around the globe (including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South East Asia and the Middle East), as well as EuroSport. Current broadcasters: Past broadcasters: From 2004 to 2009,

3458-402: The 21st century, it was popular to serve Guinness at cellar temperature (about 13 °C) and some drinkers preferred it at room temperature (about 20 °C). According to Esquire magazine, a pint of Guinness should be served in a slightly tulip-shaped pint glass , rather than the taller European tulip or 'Nonic' glass, which contains a ridge approx 3/4 of the way up the glass. To begin

3549-522: The Allied Powers. Before 1939, if a Guinness brewer wished to marry a Catholic , his resignation was requested. According to Thomas Molloy, writing in the Irish Independent , "It had no qualms about selling drink to Catholics but it did everything it could to avoid employing them until the 1960s." Guinness thought they brewed their last porter in 1973. In the 1970s, following declining sales,

3640-837: The Brewhouse series appeared to have been quietly cancelled. From early 2006, Guinness marketed a "surger" unit in Britain. This surger device, marketed for use with cans consumed at home, was "said to activate the gases in the canned beer" by sending an "ultra-sonic pulse through the pint glass" sitting upon the device. Withdrawn Guinness variants include Guinness's Brite Lager, Guinness's Brite Ale, Guinness Light, Guinness XXX Extra Strong Stout, Guinness Cream Stout, Guinness Milk Stout, Guinness Irish Wheat, Guinness Gold, Guinness Pilsner, Guinness Breó (a slightly citrusy wheat beer ), Guinness Shandy, and Guinness Special Light. Breó (meaning 'glow' in Irish)

3731-508: The British forces. Over 800 employees served in the war. This was made possible due to a number of measures put in place by Guinness: soldiers' families were paid half wages, and jobs were guaranteed upon their return. Of the 800 employees who fought, 103 did not return. During World War II , the demand for Guinness among the British was one of the main reasons why the UK lifted commerce restrictions imposed in 1941 to force Ireland into supporting

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3822-615: The COVID-19 pandemic effectively ended their participation in 2020, and there was no South African participation in the 2020 season, although the competition retained the Pro14 name. Despite the difficulties, however, the competition proved attractive to the South African Rugby Football Union, due to shared time zones and reduced travelling, and the four major Super Rugby franchises - Stormers , Sharks , Bulls and Lions joined

3913-563: The Dublin City Council, in the best interests of the city of Dublin, had put forward a motion to prevent planning permission ever being granted for the development of the site, thus making it very difficult for Diageo to sell off the site for residential development. On 9 May 2008, Diageo announced that the St. James's Gate brewery will remain open and undergo renovations, but that breweries in Kilkenny and Dundalk will be closed by 2013 when

4004-414: The English Premiership. For the first two seasons there were two groups and a knockout to determine a winner. Starting from the 2003–04 season until the 2008–09 season, the champions were determined from league performance, with all the teams in one league. From the 2017–18 season, the regular season employed a conference structure rather than a single round robin league, with 'derby games' between teams from

4095-623: The Import Stout to the Extra Stout was due to a change in distribution through North American market. Consumer complaints influenced subsequent distribution and bottle changes. Guinness ran an advertising campaign in the 1920s which stemmed from market research – when people told the company that they felt good after their pint, the slogan, created by Dorothy L. Sayers –"Guinness is Good for You". Advertising for alcoholic drinks that implies improved physical performance or enhanced personal qualities

4186-747: The Pro 14 to replace the liquidated Kings and the Cheetahs, who were withdrawn before the 2021 season. Guinness Guinness ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ n ɪ s / ) is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate , Dublin , Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based multinational alcoholic beverage maker Diageo . It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in over 120. Sales in 2011 amounted to 850,000,000 litres (190,000,000 imp gal; 220,000,000 U.S. gal). In spite of declining consumption since 2001, it

4277-553: The Pro14, but with an extra round of playoffs, the season is truncated slightly to 21 match weeks and thus can still be scheduled to the same time period as previous models of the competition. Clashes between league matches and international weekends in November and during the Six Nations Championship have been reduced. Due to the travelling distance between Europe and South Africa, home South African games are always played on

4368-502: The Scottish and Irish rights were owned by Setanta Sports . Setanta closed down in Scotland in 2009, but Setanta Ireland and Setanta Sports 1 remained available to Irish subscribers. In 2010, RTÉ Sport , BBC Northern Ireland , TG4 , BBC Wales , BBC Alba and SKY Italia came together to buy the Celtic League broadcasting rights. On 2 May 2013, Sky Sports announced that it had agreed

4459-422: The UK and Ireland was moved to St. James's Gate Brewery , Dublin. Guinness had a fleet of ships, barges and yachts. The Irish Sunday Independent newspaper reported on 17 June 2007 that Diageo intended to close the historic St. James's Gate plant in Dublin and move to a greenfield site on the outskirts of the city. This news caused some controversy when it was announced. Initially, Diageo dismissed talk of

4550-563: The artificial inflation of the Guinness share price during the takeover bid engineered by the chairman, Ernest Saunders. A subsequent £5.2 million success fee paid to an American lawyer and Guinness director, Tom Ward, was the subject of the case Guinness plc v Saunders , in which the House of Lords declared that the payment had been invalid. In the 1980s, as the IRA 's bombing campaign spread to London and

4641-562: The beer with nitrogen and carbon dioxide . The company moved its headquarters to London at the beginning of the Anglo-Irish trade war in 1932. In 1997, Guinness plc merged with Grand Metropolitan to form the multinational alcoholic-drinks producer Diageo plc , based in London. Arthur Guinness started brewing ales in 1759 at the St. James's Gate Brewery , Dublin. On 31 December 1759, he signed

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4732-409: The beer's taste. The manufacturer recommends a "double pour" serve, which according to Diageo should take two minutes. Guinness has promoted this wait with advertising campaigns such as " good things come to those who wait ". The brewer recommends that draught Guinness should be served at 6-7 °C (42.8 °F), while Extra Cold Guinness should be served at 3.5 °C (38.6 °F). Before

4823-431: The city of Treviso itself. Benetton was selected for its long history after the project of a second Italian regional team, Praetorians Roma, failed. South Africa and Ireland use explicitly provincial structures, the former operating on a franchise system. Wales employs a regional structure built on an original club foundation where regions originally represented a combination of local premiership clubs, while Scotland employs

4914-510: The competition in 2017 to create Pro14, while the four remaining professional franchises stayed in Super Rugby . The competition adopted a modified two-conference format rather than a full round-robin single table, with extra fixtures to maintain national derby matches. As weaker provinces, both struggled in the three years in which they took part, and were ineligible for European competition. The terminal financial difficulties at Southern Kings, and

5005-599: The competition's other territories, the split branding mirroring the format previously adopted in Super Rugby . The Championship represents the highest level of domestic club or franchise rugby in each of its constituent countries. The Championship is one of the three major professional leagues in Europe (along with the English Premiership and the French Top 14 ), the most successful teams from which go forward to compete in

5096-472: The decision was taken to make Guinness Extra Stout more "drinkable". The gravity was subsequently reduced, and the brand was relaunched in 1981. Pale malt was used for the first time, and isomerised hop extract began to be used. In 2014, two new porters were introduced: West Indies Porter and Dublin Porter. Guinness acquired The Distillers Company in 1986. This led to a scandal and criminal trial concerning

5187-416: The dissolved gas is required to enable very small bubbles to be formed by forcing the draught beer through fine holes in a plate in the tap, which causes the characteristic "surge" (the widget in cans and bottles achieves the same effect). This "widget" is a small plastic ball containing the nitrogen. The perceived smoothness of draught Guinness is due to its low level of carbon dioxide and the creaminess of

5278-493: The distance from the other teams may make that more of a challenge. While the North American plan remains active, media attention turned in 2017 toward a new possibility of South African teams entering the competition. Following the decision of Super Rugby organiser SANZAAR to drop three teams from the competition (two from South Africa), multiple media reports indicated that the two likeliest South African sides to be axed,

5369-405: The end of the 18-game regular season would be awarded a trophy, a regional Shield . In Ireland, Wales and South Africa, this shield (the URC Irish Shield , URC Welsh Shield and URC South African Shield respectively) functions as an informal national championship title for the main professional sides, while in Scotland and Italy's shared pool, it will be a joint regional trophy. The concept

5460-402: The first edition of URC in an all South African final, before being runner-up in the second season to Irish side, Munster. no sponsor (all other nations) BKT United Rugby Championship The legal name of the body running the competition is PRO Rugby Championship DAC , a private company limited by shares based in Ireland. The organisation is responsible for running and operating the URC and

5551-471: The fundamental texture and flavour of the Guinness of the past as nitrogen bubbles are much smaller than CO 2 , giving a "creamier" and "smoother" consistency over a sharper and traditional CO 2 taste. This step was taken after Michael Ash —a mathematician turned brewer—discovered the mechanism to make this possible. Nitrogen is less soluble than carbon dioxide, which allows the beer to be put under high pressure without making it fizzy. High pressure of

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5642-435: The grain mixture and adding Citra for a citrus flavour and removed the Mosaic hops. Guinness released a lager in 2015 called Hop House 13 . It was withdrawn from sale in the UK in May 2021, following poor sales, but remains on sale in Ireland. In 2020, Guinness announced the introduction of a zero alcohol canned stout, Guinness 0.0 . It was withdrawn from sale almost immediately after launch, due to contamination. It

5733-415: The head caused by the very fine bubbles that arise from the use of nitrogen and the dispensing method described above. Foreign Extra Stout contains more carbon dioxide, causing a more acidic taste. Although Guinness is black, and is referred to as "the black stuff" in Diageo marketing, it is also "officially" referred to as a very dark shade of ruby . The most recent change in alcohol content from

5824-456: The highest-level continental club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup . Since 2022–23, despite the name, South African teams have been eligible to qualify for European competitions. The tournament has had a number of names as it has grown, both organisationally and because of sponsors. The current name for the tournament was adopted in 2021, when the league expanded to include four South African teams previously from

5915-407: The inaugural World Cup. The Italy national rugby union team has played in the Six Nations Championship since 2000. Italy bid to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup came close to winning but lost to England by just three votes. The FIR is responsible for fielding several men's national teams: The FIR is also responsible for fielding several women's national teams: This rugby union article

6006-415: The initial pour to settle, the server pushes the tap handle back and fills the remainder of the glass until the head forms a slight dome over the top of the glass (or "just proud of the rim"). In 2010, Guinness redesigned their pint glass for the first time in a decade. The new glass was taller and narrower than the previous one and featured a bevel design. The new glasses were planned to gradually replace

6097-426: The league formed a new partnership with Roc Nation . BKT and Vodacom secured naming rights the following season. As of 2021–22 , the championship season takes place between September and May, with teams split into four regional pools: The Irish Shield pool, the Welsh Shield pool, the South African Shield pool and the Scottish and Italian Shield pool for the purpose of fixture setting. Teams play each of

6188-452: The league, but by 7 February, the Italian clubs had come up with the required funding. By 8 March 2010, a deal had been finalised for Aironi and Benetton Treviso to enter the Celtic League from the 2010–11 season, with each team guaranteed a place in the Heineken Cup. At the end of the 2011–12 season, however, Aironi were no longer available to compete in future competitions as a regional club, as, on 6 April 2012, they were refused

6279-489: The match was not shown on BBC Scotland. BBC Northern Ireland screened all Ulster matches not available on Sky Sports. RTÉ Sport dropped their coverage after the 2014 final due to budget cuts, making TG4 the only broadcasters of the competition in the Republic of Ireland. The semi-finals and finals are available to all broadcasters. On 31 August 2017, SuperSport announced that it had acquired the rights to broadcast matches within South Africa. On 30 April 2018, PRO14 Rugby signed

6370-427: The move in order to pay Ireland's 12.5 per cent rate rather than the UK's 28 per cent rate. Diageo released a statement to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) denying the report. Despite the merger that created Diageo plc in 1997, Guinness has retained its right to the Guinness brand and associated trademarks and thus continues to trade under the traditional Guinness name despite trading under the corporate name Diageo for

6461-439: The old ones. Guinness recommends that, to avoid the bitter taste of the nitrogen foam head, gulps should be taken from the glass rather than sipping the drink. A practice known as "splitting the G" has been an entry on the Urban Dictionary website since 2018. This drinking game sees the drinker attempt to bring the liquid level of the Guinness to sit at a certain level in relation to the glass' Guinness branding. Variants of

6552-546: The opposite, a 'two city club' system which maps over previous regional teams. The Celtic League board met in November 2008 to explore the possibility of Italian participation; the chief executive of the Welsh Rugby Union , Roger Lewis, stated that the league was looking "favourably" on Italian participation. Following a 19 December 2008 board meeting of the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) to discuss proposals to improve Italian rugby, FIR announced that it would submit

6643-410: The other teams in their pool twice (home and away) and each team from the other pools once (either home or away). This ensures that Irish, South African and Welsh teams each play six derby matches. For Italy and Scotland, their respective clubs play their own nations' sides only twice. All teams are sorted in a single league table. This creates an 18-match regular season before the play-offs, essentially

6734-478: The possible expansion of the Pro12. A 24-team Rainbow Cup involving 11 Celtic, 9 South African and 4 Italian teams was announced in 2005, but the idea was abandoned because of financial issues on the European end of the deal and changes in the leadership of the South African Rugby Union (SARU). London Welsh expressed interest in 2006 in joining the Celtic League if promotion and relegation were to be removed from

6825-406: The pour, the server holds the glass at a 45° angle below the tap and fills the glass 3/4 full. On the way out of the tap, the beer is forced at high speed through a five-hole disc restrictor plate at the end of the tap, creating friction and forcing the creation of small nitrogen bubbles which form a creamy head . The server brings the glass from 45° angle to a vertical position. After allowing

6916-412: The practice see the required liquid level as either: between the letter 'G', on the horizontal line of the 'G', or between the 'G' and the harp logo. When Guinness is poured, the gas bubbles appear to travel downwards in the glass. The effect is attributed to drag; bubbles that touch the walls of a glass are slowed in their travel upwards. Bubbles in the centre of the glass are, however, free to rise to

7007-549: The renamed United Rugby Championship the following year, firstly through the transitional Pro14 Rainbow Cup , held in a split tournament format across Europe and South Africa, and then the United Rugby Championship, this time eligible for European competition. Ironically, Cheetahs, no longer in the URC, were invited to join the European competition as well, along with Georgian side, Black Lion . South African team, Stormers, won

7098-537: The rest of Britain, Guinness considered scrapping the harp as its logo. The company merged with Grand Metropolitan in 1997 to form Diageo . Due to controversy over the merger, the company was maintained as a separate entity within Diageo and has retained the rights to the product and all associated trademarks of Guinness. The Guinness brewery in Park Royal , London, closed in 2005. The production of all Guinness sold in

7189-399: The rest of the historic teams. Only the four Irish provinces and the original Scottish regions have been ever present (Cardiff Rugby, Scarlets, Ospreys and Dragons have changed their names). Of the fourteen, the nine Welsh clubs and Cheetahs continue to compete in other competitions. Notes: After the successful negotiations with Italy, talks were held intermittently with South Africa about

7280-420: The same nation being protected, and an expanded playoff structure. This allowed the competition to control the calendar, and control the number of games per team. League points are awarded using the bonus points system. Until and including the 2008–09 season, the champions were decided solely on the basis of who finished top of the league table, but since the 2009–10 season, the league champion has been decided by

7371-407: The statistician William Sealy Gosset in 1899, who achieved lasting fame under the pseudonym "Student" for techniques developed for Guinness, particularly Student's t -distribution and the even more commonly known Student's t -test . By 1900 the brewery was operating unparalleled welfare schemes for its 5,000 employees. By 1907 the welfare schemes were costing the brewery £40,000 a year, which

7462-631: The subsequent renaming to Pro14 ) took place from the 2017–18 season, with two South African teams joining the Championship until the 2019–20 season. The sponsorship deal with Guinness began at the beginning of the 2014–15 season as the Guinness Pro14 , and concluded after the Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup in July 2021. Following the rebranding to the United Rugby Championship or the URC for short,

7553-521: The two South African teams was officially confirmed on 1 August 2017. The Southern Kings entered liquidation in September 2020 and therefore withdrew from the league. In September 2020, the league confirmed they were looking for a replacement team for Southern Kings and possible expansion to more teams in South Africa to enter the league in 2021. Later that month, SA rugby voted that their Super Rugby sides ( Lions , Stormers , Sharks , Bulls ) would enter

7644-405: Was a wheat beer; it cost around IR£5 million to develop. A brewing byproduct of Guinness, Guinness Yeast Extract (GYE), was produced until the 1950s. In the UK, a HP Guinness Sauce was manufactured by Heinz and available as of 2013. Kraft also licenses the name for its barbecue sauce product, Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce . In March 2010, Guinness began test marketing Guinness Black Lager ,

7735-496: Was also looking to expand further into Continental Europe by teaming with major association football clubs, some of which already have rugby sections. In August 2016, Pro12 officials began talks with the unions of both Canada and the United States about expansion before the end of the decade, with interest in putting teams on the east coasts of both countries. In September 2016, it emerged that Vancouver and Houston may be target cities, primarily due to weather considerations, though

7826-502: Was confirmed, the BBC reported that Celtic Rugby Limited was expected to officially add those teams at the organisation's next board meeting on 18 July. While no announcement came on that date, media in both South Africa and Britain reported that SARU's chief executive was at Celtic Rugby's headquarters in Dublin to finalise the addition of the Cheetahs and Kings, with Reuters calling the expansion "the worst kept secret in rugby". The addition of

7917-433: Was no longer the case and the top eight teams in the league would qualify for Europe regardless of Shield position. In addition, the winners of the each Shield would be determined by the games played amongst the teams within their regional group, reaffirming its status as a specifically national championship. The league has used a play-off structure since the 2009–10 season to determine the champions, similar to that used in

8008-419: Was one-fifth of the total wages bill. The improvements were suggested and supervised by Sir John Lumsden . By 1914, Guinness was producing 2.652 million barrels of beer a year, which was more than double that of its nearest competitor Bass , and was supplying more than 10 per cent of the total UK beer market. When World War I broke out in 1914, employees at Guinness St. James Brewery were encouraged to join

8099-521: Was referred to as the Magner's League . At the start of the 2010–11 season, the league expanded from 10 to 12 teams, adding two Italian teams. Following the end of Magners' sponsorship, the league was sponsored by RaboDirect from 2011–12 through to 2013–14 . The Pro12 name was adopted in 2011 to reflect that the league now included teams from outside the Celtic nations . A further expansion to 14 teams (and

8190-471: Was relaunched in 2021 starting with pubs in mid July with cans following in late August. In September 2021, Guinness Nitrosurge was released in pint sized cans which contain no widget. Similar to the Surger, nitrogen is activated using ultrasonic frequencies. Nitrosurge uses a special device attached to the top of the can which activates the nitrogen as it is being poured. Before the 1960s, when Guinness adopted

8281-571: Was used as a fining agent for settling out suspended matter in the vat. The isinglass was retained in the floor of the vat but it was possible that minute quantities might be carried over into the beer. Diageo announced in February 2018 that the use of isinglass in draught Guinness was to be discontinued and an alternative clarification agent would be used instead, making the drink acceptable to vegans and vegetarians. Arguably its biggest change to date, in 1959 Guinness began using nitrogen, which changed

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