United Rugby Championship announced, beginning September 2021

Cookiemunster

Vodacom are on board as the SA sponsor of the league. Not even rumour of a sponsor up here yet though.

https://twitter.com/URCOfficial/status/1438083682863140864

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117893910#Comment_117893910

It was leaked earlier today when the Golden Lions released a video showing the URC logo with the vodacom logo on the top of it.

Vodacom also sponsored the Super Rugby competition so i'd imagine they got a deal to help keep a level of familiarity with fans

icdg

RTE / TG4 joint coverage launch.

Jacqui Hurley and Daire O’Brien presenting on RTE.

https://about.rte.ie/2021/09/15/rte-and-tg4-unite-to-bring-irish-audiences-over-150-hours-of-rugby-action-free-to-air/

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117895542#Comment_117895542

So the RTE/TG4 split for the 1st 10 games is

Leinster 4/6

Munster 8/2

Connacht 3/7

Ulster 3/4 (3 games will be exclusive to Premier Sports)

18 games in total so of the other 8 I wonder will the Munster games after Christmas be solely on TG4 in order to have a fair split or have TG4 requested more of the Connacht games than RTE?

I wonder why they've thrown a few of the non-Irish games in there like, Saturday 4 December TG4 have Stormers v Cardiff

Sheep Shagger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117895542#Comment_117895542

How the **** does Daire 'Go easy O'B' keep his job, he is useless and cringey.

Roxxers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117895809#Comment_117895809

did you not see the pics he has online ?

Sheep Shagger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117896634#Comment_117896634

Nope - he has to know someone high up in RTE to keep his job. He knows nothing about rugby and somehow came across from the old Setanta.

Homesick Alien

Possibly a dumb question but can you only watch URC TV from a browser window or can you watch it through your TV?

Tomtom364

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117900135#Comment_117900135

Currently its a browser based system. Chromecast & Airplay enabled

Most Apple or Android mobile device browsers should support it. However they say "soon" there will be mobile apps in their FAQs

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117895809#Comment_117895809

I first read that as the former "the panel" and current "mock the week" host oops

stephen_n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117900483#Comment_117900483

That Dara would probably know more about rugby.

Neil3030

Dara O'Briain would have been a great club man. A massive plodding number 8, and great craic in the pub after.

Sheep Shagger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117896634#Comment_117896634

Nope - he has to know someone high up in RTE to keep his job. He knows nothing about rugby and somehow came across from the old Setanta.

OldRio

This could be fun.....

https://www.superbru.com/urc_fantasy/?dm_i=5GVN,FEKR,1UF9V1,1RULL,1

Thrashssacre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117905186#Comment_117905186

Have a preliminary team set up, the unlimited transfers is a bit eh though throws out alot of the strategy of picking consistent squad players over big names.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117905467#Comment_117905467

Its only unlimited transfers until the competition starts. then its 4 a week. and there is a boards.ie group run for some time on the site and a pool already in place. 5 competing so far. https://www.superbru.com/urc_fantasy/pool.php?p=12399752

bilston

Great selections amongst the Irish provinces for tonight and tomorrow. Positive early signs for the URC.

Podge_irl

Well URC tv is off to a great start. It seems to think I'm in the UK and won't let me watch it despite me very much being in Switzerland.

Dave_The_Sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934368#Comment_117934368

Have you tried relocating to the UK?

Podge_irl

The whole point is that it doesn't work from the UK. I guess I could relocate to Ireland but I'm not happy about having to go through hoops for this.

Anyway, their support service is very responsive, I'll give them that. Despite claiming its available everywhere except UK/SA that is actually a lie and they are still finalising broadcasting rights in lots of countries. So refund swinging my way 🙄

Dave_The_Sheep

Four tries for the Lions against Zebre in the first, what twenty minutes?

Thrashssacre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934455#Comment_117934455

Zebre look absolutely awful.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934455#Comment_117934455

Wow. Who's idea was it to make this the inaugural fixture for the competition? Are they trying to set an unbeatable record high winning margin in the first game?

icdg

I know the bottom centred scorebar is normal on SuperSport but it looks so odd.

Akrasia

Zebre are on a bit of a comeback it seems 21-38 after 62 minutes

Dave_The_Sheep

Yeah, might regret that missed conversion though.

Sheep Shagger

Is it a mistake that Premier Sports can be viewed in ROI via sky when they sold the rights for here to RTE and TG4 (am not complaining just curious).

icdg

No mistake, they have ROI rights too now as does URC TV. You may notice that the Premier Sports 2 programme is (or was earlier) coming from the old eir Sport set in Dublin and there’ll be a few familiar faces tomorrow evening too.

mr_edge_to_you

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934532#Comment_117934532

My initial thoughts....I hate it.

Thrashssacre

Anyone see that absolutely unit the lion's brought on as a replacement prop, the dude must have been knocking on the door of 150kg, poor zebre player ran into him while he was just standing there feet planted and zebre player had to go off injured from being bounced off his gut!

Tomtom364

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117890993#Comment_117890993

Just to come back on this.

First evening using the system, I watched the Connacht match while my dad watched the Ulster match. Absolutely no issues with the stream bar one slight glitch at the end for me. The stream seemed to stop with 5 mins left but I reloaded the page and it was all there. Seems to have been an issue with me being behind live when the stream ended.

On that, you can join a game live and immediately jump back to the start of the stream. Jumping back and forth on the stream is very easy and loads/buffers very quickly. (with fibre anyway). Picture quality was perfect.

Games went from live section immediately to replay section which very little delay so no waiting around to watch a game not live.

No pregame build up/ half time analysis. The feed including commentary is from whoever was providing the broadcast so last night Ulster game was premiers commentators, Connacht game had BBC Wales commentary

irelandrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117936948#Comment_117936948

Can you start a game without seeing live? It's not great if it goes live and then you have to go back to the start as then you'll have seen the score.

bilston

Is it one league or is it 4 leagues of 4?

I thought it was primarily one league of 16, with the "Shield" leagues being the more minor aspect used to determine European spots and add extra fixtures, but the BBC website has it as 4 leagues of 4 with no league of 16.

Cookiemunster

You are correct, BBC are wrong. The official site has one league table of 16.

Pussyhands

Not a good start for the league. Bulls getting swatted aside.

Still not sure about the format. At the heart of a league should be fairness.

Connacht have to play Leinster/Munster/Ulster twice a season whereas the Scottish side get to play Italian/Scottish teams instead. Not really fair it when all these points contribute to the regional pool which affect champions cup qualification.

Pussyhands

This is ridiculous...VODACOM Bulls captain giving an interview wearing a VODACOM cap. Jerseys already an advertising hoarding.

OldRio

Great start for the league. Massive improvement on what has gone before.

Good presentation on the TV. Far superior to what has gone before.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117938843#Comment_117938843

Ya I'm definitely enjoying this weekend more than I have previous pro x opening weekends

Digifriendly

Munster vs Sharks on RTE2 is geo blocked on Freeview here in N. Ireland but 'in the clear' on Sky.

bilston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117938755#Comment_117938755

Disagree. I've enjoyed the weekend.

To be fair while Leinster were clearly the better team, the Bulls made it hard for themselves by messing up the lineout and not taking kicks at goal.

Really enjoyed the rugby to be honest, the new teams will take time to bed in but I'm very optimistic.

I also noticed some good albeit failed attempts at the 50:22 and certainly Leinster had 2 - 3 players behind the ball to compensate.

Very much looking forward to the season ahead.

Tomtom364

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117937015#Comment_117937015

No it starts live. But it's not hard to just block your view of the centre bottom screen where the score is while you jump back

Jump_In_Jack

Can anyone shed some light on the SA team’s poor performances? Is this their normal standard?

they were very poor against M and L and their results against the Italian sides weren’t that great, maybe Lions beating Zebre by 12 with a try bp was ok, but they let in 4 unanswered tries in the 2nd half to cough up a tbp.

Each team is perhaps after losing around 5 players to the Springboks (I haven’t the time now to research it), how many players were Munster and Leinster missing?

off the top of my head, each were without 5 starters:

Munster: Beirne, Murray, De Allende, Farrell, Earls.

Leinster: Kelleher, Furlong, Conan, Henshaw, Larmour.

Cookiemunster

The Saffers were down all their internationals, who are still in Australia. Much like the Cheetahs they'll probably be good at home (especially with their internationals back) and a mixed bag when they travel North.

Jump_In_Jack

I suppose what I was getting at was asking whether or not this weekend is indicative of the future we can expect from the SA teams in the URC, or is it explainable in present circumstances and not to worry for future seasons?

if the SA teams are only going to be at the level of the Italian teams up until Christmas every season due to commitments with the Currie Cup, the Rugby Championship and the November Internationals then it’s a complete let down from my point of view.

Sure, they could finish the league matches stronger after Christmas, and some could progress to playoffs, but if that is going to be a regular feature of the league, as the top 8 teams will qualify for playoffs giving them a chance to afford a slow start, so if they are happy to finish 7th/8th by the end secure in the knowledge that at least 1 team will get Champions Cup rugby next season, and then try to win the URC playoffs from there it will mess up the seedings and also it means half the season will be over before they start to take it seriously.

Or maybe there were specific issues this season due to: Lack of matches in Rainbow Cup due to Covid, the scheduling of the Lions including cancelled matches due to Covid, or maybe was the Currie Cup schedule pushed out and affected pre-season preparations, and was there any problem with travel to come here, maybe they were isolating for a while?

I don’t know so I was just wondering if anyone else that would know these things could shed some light on it.

We all just want fully loaded SA teams to make the competition competitive each week, I don’t want to see second string Irish sides waltzing through matches like we’ve seen last season.

Akrasia

There is absolutely no doubting that these 4 teams are very good outfits that are capable of being competitive both at home and away.

If the bottom of the table is a shootout between the 4 new SA teams come April next year, then we can talk about whether they deserve their spot in the league and Champions cup.

bilston

Yo be fair if the Bulls had had a functioning lineout then the Leinster Bulls match may have been closer, plus they kept turning down shots at goal in the first 30 mins or so. I think they'll adapt and become better.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117942750#Comment_117942750

Yeah I thought the Bulls looked good at times, Leinster were just very sharp and more efficient.

I had forgotten that the SA teams had been playing up until recently so you'd have expected them to be a bit more conditioned. More than happy to give them time though, most enjoyable weekend of Pro-Whatever rugby in a while.

Tigerandahalf

I am very happy with Premier Sports coverage so far. It is very handy on Now TV where you can flick between games. Good quality stream on a 43" tv and the commentary is good.

I see Edinburgh are in their new smaller stadium. Plenty of pillars to block the view but it should make for a good atmosphere.

I saw a repeat of Dragons Ospreys last night. The Dragons have a new hybrid pitch now. Good contest and there is always a great atmosphere there. Ospreys just got over the line despite a late try from the Dragons.

I hope the SA sides will add to the competition. It was noticeable how the Bulls were much tougher on the gainline for Leinster. It could really benefit Leinster coming up against these sides given they have struggled with the bigger packs from England and France.

These SA sides should have plenty of young talent coming through too before they are tempted abroad.

By the way it is great to have the Top 14 back on Premier. Clermont and Toulouse were on at 8pm last night, with a big game every Sat and Sun night at that time. JJ Hanrahan came on for Clermont at 60 mins. High quality flowing game with some real talents. Ntamack and Dupont are going to be the best half back combination for a few years to come.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934532#Comment_117934532

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934871#Comment_117934871

It was the same on RTE and I don't like the way the score is either, but having said that the standard of commentary (despite still being slightly biased against Munster) and the price we are paying are both major improvements over Eir Sports last year