THE new rugby season will produce a super league winner, and there will be a possible 86 points on offer from all competitions, the Argus can reveal.

The Welsh Rugby Union and the Premier Division clubs have combined to produce a new bonus points system which will reward success in the Celtic League, Heineken Cup, Parker Pen Cup and Shield and Principality Cup.

While there will still be a Welsh League winner, points earned in all competitions will decide Heineken Cup qualification for the following season.

The team with the highest points total from everything will be hailed as super league champions.

The idea is to make all matches meaningful compared with last season when the Celtic League in particular was low key in Wales.

A total of 48 points are available in the Welsh League from 16 games, but the new plan will mean another 14 points are possible from the Heineken Cup, 12 from the Principality Cup and 12 from the Celtic League.

Three bonus points will be given to a Welsh team reaching the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup, three for reaching the semi-finals, three for getting to the final and five for winning it.

In the Celtic League it will be three for reaching the quarters, three for reaching the semis, three for making the final and three for winning it.

The Principality Cup will produce three bonus points for winning their round seven match, three for winning the quarter-final, three for winning the semi-final and three for winning the competition.

The Parker Pen Cup will yield three fewer points. That will give two points for reaching the quarters, two for the semis, two for the final and three for winning it. The Parker Pen Cup will be correspondingly less, with one, one, one and two points, respectively.

The idea is to make clubs take all competitions seriously, but the plan has its anomalies. For example, one pool in the Celtic League has four home games and the other three. In the Principality Cup, Newport could draw Cardiff, as last season, while Llanelli could face Caerphilly. And the Welsh club drawing an Italian side has more chance of reaching the knock-out stages and therefore accumulating more bonus points than the side without any Italians in their group.

But the clubs and the WRU will announce today they have agreed the plan, believing the plan rewards consistency.