URC 2023/24

PMC83

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/cardiff-ospreys-merger-talks-held-27190170?fbclid=IwAR2rFPJMTnr-ifdbA_WP_gDj7FQbmvQa6uhWHgfkn1BAxxkxkdg1ES6VPPM

More talk of a region merger. Feels like every week. Hard to see them being competitive this season which is a shame.

Cookiemunster

Caridff have released a statement.

https://www.cardiffrugby.wales/news/cardiff-rugby-statement-26/06/22

Professional rugby is undoubtedly facing significant challenges across the whole game, but Cardiff Rugby will continue and will remain at Cardiff Arms Park.

We are looking forward to the new season and a return to the Champions Cup, with the squad returning for pre-season last week.

Now that's not denying the merger talks, but obviously means that if it's true then Cardiff will just absorb Ospreys.

Cookiemunster

When are people expecting fixtures to be released? It was the end of July last season for a mid September start, but the league doesn't start until Oct 20th this year.

PMC83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120767441#Comment_120767441

Its sad to see really, Ospreys were a force to be reckoned with a few years back

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120767685#Comment_120767685

Only when they had someone pumping money into their squad

lawrencesummers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120767685#Comment_120767685

Wales were a force to be reckoned with once as well.

phog

When rugby went professional the provinces had only the InterPros and the H/Cup to keep themselves going. The Celtic League is the bread and butter and we need it now more than ever before. We better hope that Wales get their act together. We really can't afford to lose a team, though, as has already been suggested we could get a 5th South African team but that will cause an issue with the current shields.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120768756#Comment_120768756

Yeah, I agree with this.

There is a certain enjoyable schadenfreude in watching the Welsh implode, but long term it's harming Irish rugby not to have a strong Welsh rugby as a rival for the national team and their regions for our provinces.

PMC83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120768771#Comment_120768771

Zero interest in seeing any team implode tbh. The sports too small for kind of stuff, as you've said it damages Irish teams (and the rest) if it happens.

Looking forward to the next season now!

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120768756#Comment_120768756

Agreed, the Welsh need to get it together big time! As a side note I don't think any other SA team is strong enough for the URC but money does talk, the cheetahs/kings experiment was nothing short of a disaster though

pickarooney

The Kings were a disaster but the Cheetahs won over 50% of their games in their first season then lost a load of players and still won 8 games the following season. Much better than Zebre or Dragons usually do.

Neil3030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120768756#Comment_120768756

Now that shields don't grant a place in the Heino, I think an imbalance is less of a big deal.

Also, a 5-team SA shield means they play one fewer away game in Europe.

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120806984#Comment_120806984

There would still imbalance of sorts as the "home" fixtures (played in the country of the teams) that are scheduled over the Christmas period might have 3 Welsh and 5 SA teams so one in each country would have a rest weekend.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120806062#Comment_120806062

The bar for a clubs performance should be higher than Zebre or Dragons, especially one which is based in the country of the world champions

The first Pro14 games Munster and Ulster played against Cheetahs were complete one sided white-washes, they are an amateur club and belong in the Currie Cup, not URC. Even in last years Challenge Cup they only narrowly defeated Pau twice and lost to Scarlets twice

Jump_In_Jack

Ideally the way forward would be for one less Welsh team, and one less Italian team, and one more South African team. Then put the Italian team in with Ireland, for a 5-team shield, and put the Scots and Welsh together for a 5-team shield, and South Africa would have it's own 5-team shield.

Each shield would play home and away, for 8 matches, and would play all of the other 10 teams once home or away, so 5 at home and 5 away.

Total league season would remain at 18 matches, 9 home matches 9 away matches. I'd adopt a version similar to the French system of top team into semis, next 6 into three quarter-finals, so 7 teams out of 15 would take part in playoffs.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120807768#Comment_120807768

The most ideal way would be to have equal numbers of home and away games. People are more likely to buy in to competitions when complexity is reduced.

I do accept that it's not viable to have a 30 week regular season at the same time though

pickarooney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120807516#Comment_120807516

Is CC the Currie Cup, Champions Cup or Challenge Cup?

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120811212#Comment_120811212

Apologies. Currie Cup, I have edited

AbusesToilets

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120807768#Comment_120807768

If that were to happen, I'd much rather a team from Portugal and Spain

Jump_In_Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120812157#Comment_120812157

If you swapped Ospreys and Zebre for Lisbon and Madrid for example, which assuming there would be funding and players for those teams (is there enough support in those countries?), then what would be the competition structure?

Would the 16 teams just play one another once for 15 matches, or would one of the new teams join the 3 Welsh teams, and the other new team join the Scottish teams and the Italian team to keep it 4 shields? Or might the Italian team join with the two new teams plus one Welsh team, and the other two Welsh teams join with the two Scottish teams? Depending on the strength of the new teams the shields could become very unbalanced.

I'm not totally against that idea either, at least that would avoid having to give a Bye to each team if there are an odd number of teams.

AbusesToilets

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120812254#Comment_120812254

Personally I'd much rather a home or away structure, a la the 6Ns. The Shields make it tricky, because in an ideal world you could have 3 Euro teams with Benneton in their own grouping. That obviously creates an issue because the Scottish would be without an easy group, unless it was kosher to put them with the Welsh in a 5 team group.

Jump_In_Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120812596#Comment_120812596

It would probably be a good league if they added 3 more teams so 19 teams and made it a round robin, play all teams once either home or away. 9 matches at home, 9 matches away, every team gets one bye weekend, the whole thing would take 19 rounds and each team would play 18 league matches before playoffs. Could add the Cheetahs, and a team from Portugal, and a team from Spain in that scenario. The only issue would be convincing the Unions that it would be palatable to lose the second round of derby matches. I could see the South African teams being very unwilling to agree to that as it would mean they would play only 4 matches in South Africa, and 14 matches in Europe, with only two home matches against other South African teams, which would possibly be the more popular fixtures, at least initially.

Cookiemunster

Fixtures will be released next Tuesday (11th).

https://twitter.com/URCOfficial/status/1677271297603117057

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120812254#Comment_120812254

A bit too complicated a structure I think. I recon those fringe European teams would be better off forming a league of their own and competing with URC, EP and T14 teams in the Champions Cup. For an added bonus the Champions/Challenge cups get simplified. Groups of 4 would naturally have teams from 3 different leagues

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120812681#Comment_120812681

A home or away format means the Irish teams would lose gate receipts and guaranteed sellouts in exchange for going to South Africa to play in front of 5 people. That would spell the ultimate demise of the league

Cookiemunster

The fixtures are out.

https://www.unitedrugby.com/latest/news/urc-2023-fixtures

R1 – Saturday, October 21

Zebre Parma v Ulster | 13.00 IRE & UK / 14.00 ITA & SA | ITA, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

Connacht v Ospreys | 15.00 IRE & UK / 16.00 ITA & SA | TG4, S4C, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

Emirates Lions v DHL Stormers | 15.05 IRE & UK / 16.05 ITA & SA | SuperSport, Viaplay, Premier Sports

Dragons RFC v Edinburgh | 15.05 IRE & UK / 16.05 ITA & SA | Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

Cardiff Rugby v Benetton | 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA & SA | S4C, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

Munster v Cell C Sharks | 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA & SA | TG4, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

Sunday, October 22

Vodacom Bulls v Scarlets | 14.00 IRE & UK / 15.00 ITA & SA | SuperSport, BBC Wales, Viaplay, Premier Sports

Glasgow Warriors v Leinster | 16.00 IRE & UK / 17.00 ITA & SA | Viaplay, RTÉ, SuperSport, Premier Sports

Cookiemunster

Interpros

R3 - Saturday, November 4 Connacht v Ulster | 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA | TG4, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

R4 – Friday, November 10 Ulster v Munster | 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA | BBC NI, RTÉ, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

R6 - Saturday, November 25 Leinster v Munster | 18.30 IRE & UK / 19.30 ITA / 20.30 SA | TG4, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

R7 - Saturday, December 2 Connacht v Leinster | 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA | RTÉ, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

R8 – Friday, December 22 Ulster v Connacht | 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA | BBC NI, TG4, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

R8 - Tuesday, December 26 Munster v Leinster | 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA | RTÉ, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

R9 Monday, January 1 Leinster v Ulster | 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA / 19.15 SA | RTÉ, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

Connacht v Munster | TBC | TG4, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports      

R16 - Saturday, May 11 Munster v Connacht | 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA & SA | RTÉ, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

R17 - Saturday, May 18 Ulster v Leinster | 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA & SA | Viaplay, TG4, SuperSport, Premier Sports

R18 - Friday, May 31 Leinster v Connacht | 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA & SA | RTÉ, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

R18 - Saturday, June 1 Munster v Ulster | 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA & SA | TG4, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports

sydthebeat

just having a quick look at some of the transfers for next season, and zebre are doing some very good business.

Jake Polledri in from glaws is a huge signing. if, and its a big if, he can stay fit he can be a game changer for them, and at 27 is really only hitting his prime. Scott Gregory from the highlanders is also an improvement on what they had, a very strong and quick centre / wing with a great eye for finishing.

Frischetti from london irish is probably the best signing though. Re-signing at 25, hes already a test level regular and a prop with a very high ceiling. Hopefully they become more competitive in the next season and at least put it up to the welsh teams, who have simply haemorrhaged players this summer.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120834290#Comment_120834290

So each broadcaster shows 6 of the 12 interpros, although both Leinster/Connacht games are on RTE and both Connacht/Ulster games are on TG4 so while it's not exactly an equal split it's still better than Eir Sports...

Cookiemunster

This is the third season of the current TV contract and it's been pretty much the same split of games between RTE and TG4 since it came into force. Not sure how you're surprised by it.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120838016#Comment_120838016

When did I say or suggest that I was surprised by it?

icdg

U.K. national TV rights for next season potentially now in play as a result of Viaplay’s shock decision to exit the U.K. market after only nine months. Not yet a certainty as the business may be sold as a going concern but it would be a worry for the league, and for fans particularly in Scotland and NI, if a buyer were not ultimately found. This doesn’t directly affect ROI as Premier Sports retained its Irish business.