TITLEHOLDERS LEINSTER and former champions Munster will welcome incoming South African opposition on the opening weekend of the United Rugby Championship, with the Vodacom Bulls visiting the RDS (Saturday 25 September, 17:15) and the Cell C Sharks arriving in Thomond Park (Saturday 25 September, 19:35).
Ulster will host fellow former champs Glasgow Warriors at Kingspan Stadium, while Connacht are the only Irish province who will open their season away from home as they head for Cardiff. Both of those fixtures will take place on Friday 24 September at 19:35.
The DHL Stormers — like the Bulls and the Sharks, newcomers from Super Rugby — will travel to Treviso to square off with Rainbow Cup champions Benetton while the fourth additional South African side, the Emirates Lions, will also journey to Italy to face Zebre.
(The full list of URC fixtures can be found here, at the competition’s match centre).
The four South African franchises will each complete four-week tours of Europe to begin the season. The original date of round 6 has also been moved to the final week in November to avoid any potential clash with international Tests.
In the new format, all 16 teams will be ranked across a single table. The top eight teams will advance to an expanded final series that includes a full quarter-final stage, semi-finals and a final. That final series is scheduled to take place over consecutive weekends on 4 June, 11 June and 18 June.
“We believe these fixtures will ensure that the URC could deliver on its promise of a new era for our league where the very best from South Africa go head-to-head with our Celtic and Italian teams,” said Martin Anayi, United Rugby Championship CEO.
“As we carefully manoeuvre out of the pandemic, the URC will take its place as one of the leading leagues in global rugby and this fixture list should ignite our competition and take it to the next level.
“This schedule is the most complex we have ever produced and the efforts of every one of our stakeholders to help us piece it together in the current climate have been monumental.
“We now have a format that will heighten competition, showcase our teams, elevate our players and bring great excitement to fans and TV audiences right across our territories and beyond.”
