The Pro12 (known as the RaboDirect Pro12 for sponsorship reasons, formerly known as the Celtic League & Magners League) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.

Beginning in the 2001–02 season, the league was originally known as the Celtic League (Irish: An tSraith Cheilteach; Welsh: Y Gynghrair Geltaidd; Scottish Gaelic: An Lìog Cheilteach) and comprised teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The league was sponsored by Irish cider makers Magners from the 2006–07 season until 2010-11. At the start of the 2010-11 season, two new Italian entrants competed in the league. Following the end of Magners sponsorship, from the 2011–12 season the league will be sponsored by RaboDirect for four seasons. The "Pro12" was adopted to reflect that it now includes teams from outside the Celtic nations.

The league is one of the three major professional leagues in Europe, along with the English Aviva Premiership and the French Top 14.

Until the 2008–09 season the league champion was determined solely from league performance. However from the 2009–10 season, a play-off structure was re-introduced, similar to that used in the English Premiership.

Luke Matthew Fitzgerald (born 13 September 1987) is a Rugby Union footballer. He currently plays at winger or centre for Leinster. Having previously studied at Blackrock College he won two Leinster Schools Senior Cups, in 2004 and 2006. He won his first cap for Ireland in November 2006. Fitzgerald has earned the nickname "Pivot" from Leinster and Irish rugby fans due to his exciting runs and sidesteps from broken play.

An Irish speaker, Fitzgerald has a particular interest in the language. He played hurling at underage level. In Gaelic football, he is a fan of the Dublin senior football team. Fitzgerald's father Des also played international rugby for Ireland, earning 34 caps at prop between 1984 and 1992.

Fitzgerald played for the Blackrock College Senior Cup Team from 2004–2006, winning two Leinster Senior Cup Medals, in 2004 and 2006. He also won a Leinster Junior Cup Medal in 2003, beating Gonzaga College in the final.

He was the 2005 Irish Examiner Young Rugby Player of the Year.

After leaving school, Fitzgerald joined renowned south Dublin club Blackrock College RFC, a natural transition from schools to club rugby.

Douglas Charles Howlett (born 21 September 1978) is a professional New Zealand rugby union player of Tongan descent. He is primarily a wing but he has also covered fullback at national and international levels. He currently plays in Ireland with Munster. He is the brother of former Tongan rugby league international Phil. With an outstanding 49 tries in 62 tests, Howlett is currently the 5th-highest try scorer in Rugby Union history and 1st on the all time highest try scorers for the All Blacks.

Born 21 September 1978 in Auckland, Howlett attended May Road School, and Mt Roskill Intermediate School. He started playing rugby at Auckland Grammar School, where he was also a star sprinter, captain of athletics and, during his final year in 1996, Head Prefect. He calls upon his speed as a sprinter (he once clocked a personal best 10.68 seconds for the 100 metres in an under 20 athletics championship in 1998) to great effect in his rugby career. He is of Tongan and German descent.

Howlett made his first-class debut at the age of 18 for Auckland in the NPC. He has played with 3 Super Rugby teams, the Highlanders, the Hurricanes and the Blues. It was at hometown club the Blues he set established himself as one of the finest back players in the world.

Munster Rugby, usually referred to simply as Munster, is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from Ireland. They compete in the RaboDirect Pro12 and the Heineken Cup. The team represents the IRFU Munster Branch, which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU and is responsible for rugby union in the Irish province of Munster. Their main home ground is Thomond Park, Limerick, though some smaller profile games are played at Musgrave Park, Cork. Munster currently play in a red and blue home strip, while the away strip is white striped horizontally with the colours of the six counties of Munster. The Munster Rugby logo consists of three crowns and a stag. The team motto is "To the brave and faithful, nothing is impossible"; it is derived from the motto of the MacCarthy clan – "Forti et Fideli nihil difficile".

Munster is known for its passionate support and games involving Munster hold several Heineken Cup records for highest attendances in every stage of the finals, as well as the highest ever attendance for a rugby game in both Spain and Switzerland. In 2008, Director of Coaching Declan Kidney left to take up the head coach job with Ireland, and Munster ensured continuity by promoting Australian Tony McGahan to the position from within the coaching setup.

Ruan Pienaar (born 10 March 1984 in Bloemfontein) is a South African rugby union footballer who plays either as a scrum-half or as a fly-half. He joined Ulster for the 2010/2011 Magners League campaign.

He is the son of former Springbok fullback Gysie Pienaar. Ruan is regarded as a very skillful rugby player. Besides being able to pass well, he can kick with both feet, and his vision and running style moved former Springbok coach Jake White to compare him with Australian fly-half Stephen Larkham, which is high praise indeed.

He made his debut for the Springboks in the 2006 Tri-Nations against New Zealand and was a member of the successful 2007 World Cup squad. As he has not played club rugby in South Africa since June 2010 it seemed unlikely that he would be called up again to play for the national team. SARU has a policy of selecting foreign based players in exceptional circumstances only. However, on the 20th of June 2011 it was reported that Pienaar had been named in South Africa's 49-Man World Cup preliminary training squad.