**The Guinness PRO14 returns this week as the 2020/21 campaign follows hot on the heels of Leinster’s historic third successive title victory in last season’s Final.** Friday night will raise the curtain on the season with a blockbuster triple-header and we begin today’s Media Watch with Benetton - one of the six teams who will be in action. Ian McKinley insists he holds no animosity towards the Italian side after being handed his P45 by the club earlier this year as they prepare to face Ulster in Belfast in the opening round. “Obviously they are not very pleasant conversations but that happened pretty early on (in the season) so I’d known for quite a while,” [McKinley told RugbyPass](http://www.rugbypass.com/news/thats-the-uglier-side-of-the-sport-in-some-ways-but-there-is-no-animosity-mckinley-benetton-italy/). “It’s a double-edged sword and that’s the other side of the sport, the uglier side in some ways. Like everyone who is involved in it, you’re in it for both reasons (good and bad). “Sometimes that is just the hand that you are given and this can happen at any time, so there is no animosity in any way.” Meanwhile, in Ireland, former Ulster man Tommy Bowe has also given his thoughts on the new Guinness PRO14 season, insisting [his old club are closing the gap on Leinster](http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/sport/pro14-tommy-bowe-is-upbeat-on-ulster-but-admits-games-future-a-concern-39565254.html). “Ulster are closing that gap (with Leinster) and are going in the right direction,” he said. “Dan McFarland is doing a great job and has also shown he has that ruthless capacity to do his job whether you agree or not with him dropping John Cooney. “And given where Ulster were before he arrived all that he has brought and with regular knockout rugby in both competitions has to be promising.” The team Ulster beat to reach the Guinness PRO14 Final are also feeling confident going into the 2020/21 season, [according to Edinburgh’s defence coach Calum MacRae](http://www.theoffsideline.com/calum-macrae-edinburgh/?v=79cba1185463). MacRae believes Scotland’s capital side can focus on the progress they have made, rather than fixating on their knockout defeats to Ulster in the league and Bordeaux in Europe. “When you face a disappointment, and we’ve had two in three weeks with Ulster and Bordeaux, there tends to be a fixation on it,” he said. “But I think it’s really important to reflect on the season more as a whole rather than just those two games. I think there is clearly steady progress. We’re getting to play-offs consistently now. “And I think our game is evolving. Particularly from year one when we came in, I see a real evolution: firstly in making us hard to beat, and then our try-scoring record speaks for itself.” Elsewhere, Wales international Aled Brew is reportedly attracting interest from Scarlets as they look to solve their wing problems in the absence of injured Johnny McNicholl. McNicholl is set to be [out for eight weeks because of an ankle injury](http://www.wru.wales/2020/09/mcnicholl-out-for-eight-weeks-halfpenny-back-in-training/) while talented youngster Tomi Lewis has been ruled out for 12 months with a “significant” knee problem. But 34-year-old Brew could prove a lifeline for the west Wales region, especially with Leigh Halfpenny, Liam Williams and Steff Evans likely to be called up for international duty. [Wales Online](http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/welsh-region-linked-wales-international-19005235) is reporting that exploratory talks with Brew, who has been capped nine times with Wales and played ten times for Bath Rugby last season, have already taken place.
