More talk of a region merger. Feels like every week. Hard to see them being competitive this season which is a shame.
Not sure I agree with that decision off the restart. The Gloucester player is totally reckless launching himself like that.
The knee slide to save the try they discussed at half time? Have only tuned in for the last few minutes of the half so not sure if he did something else?
Yes.
Etzebeths body is mostly in the try zone and in the interests of "Jouez", I don't really agree with Monye saying it's a penalty try.
It definitely is when he makes contact with the ball, but need a better angle to see where he was when he started the slide
Lads, not being a back seat mod but this is the URC thread
Furlong couldn’t lace Vincent’s boots
So final round of pool games coming up this weekend.
Top 4 settled but in what order to be decided.
Stormers and Ulster are safe but again where they'll end up will be decided by results.
Benetton play Edinburgh and the winner will be safe too
Sharks winning the Challenge Cup has put the cat amongst the pigeons as far as Champions Cup placings go but 8th spot for knock out rugby is still up for grabs - (I think) if they progress to win the URC then 7th place could lose out for the Champion Cup
How it's all decided (if tied on points)
Weirdly Ultimate Rugby seem to already know how it's gonna go down this weekend and have posted the qf fixtures
those are the matchups according to the current table, id say its just set to automatically populate according to current position
Well this was rather unexpected. Next seasons fixtures will be released at 10am tomorrow.
https://x.com/URCOfficial/status/1795742343490105417
It's pretty odd that they would put these non-fixtures up on the app several days in advance of qfs being decided though
I don't think it's that odd. It'll update throughout the day and people will be interested in the "as it stands" table.
The URC have really got their act together in regards to fixtures. It's brilliant.
Probably makes sense in terms of helping more people potentially make the trip down to SA for games, by giving that bit further notice.
Curious to see if the timing of Leinster's trip to SA is the same as previous years.
I believe that Leinster wanted to tour SA earlier in the year but were denied last year, so am also curious.
It's still quite difficult to see a window when they'll tour with a stronger squad and next to impossible to see when they'll tour with a full strength squad (unless absolutely necessary).
At the very beginning of the year, the internationals are typically still in a mandated rest window.
They typically return just around the time of the first clashes in Europe (usually have a round of interpros in the weeks preceding and following those ties. It's not going to happen around Christmas.
Into Jan - you've got Europe again and some players are also being rested with one eye on the 6N, and then typically post 6N you're almost straight into European knock outs again.
The issue here is more around having 17-20 players in the Irish squad rather than just the timing of the fixtures.
Didn't expect next seasons fixtures to be out ahead of the quarter final fixtures. Guess with season going on until end of June makes sense to release them a few weeks ahead of the end of the season
connachts tour to SA this season was the 2nd and 3rd week of November. Theres no reason this couldnt simply be swapped with Leinster.
assuming champions cup doesnt start until 2nd week december like this season.
No reason the interpros could be moved to mid october, and still retaining the christmas derbies.
Ireland are playing NZ on November 8th, Argentina on Nov 15th, Fiji on Nov 23rd and Australia on the 30th.
So even if the tour is set for early October, I think it highly unlikely the bulk of the frontline internationals travel.
fair point, i never even considered the nov interationals.
and here they are. Regular season commences 20th September 2024 concluding on 17th May 2025 with the final on 14th June 2025.
https://www.unitedrugby.com/latest/news/full-2024-2025-urc-fixture-list
Im guessing it will be Leinster vs Munster in Croke Park 12th Oct
I doubt it. The Aviva is big enough. They're unlikely to even use the upper tier for most games.
Luckly while there’s an international football window around then the Republic of Ireland are away in both fixtures which should leave the Aviva available for Leinster.
Odd why it's 'TBC' and not listed as 'Aviva Stadium' like the other fixtures
Be great to get a trip to Croke Park at that time of the year. The GAA will take the €€€
They've announced every other home game as in the Aviva but the Munster game venue is TBC so could very well be Croke Park.
Only looked at the 4 x SA teams schedules, thats where my interests lie. Be interesting to see when the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup fixtures are confirmed, how it shakes out for each team then
Must be a balls to do a schedule that makes everyone happy.
First 2 weeks of URC overlaps with last 2 weeks of the Rugby Championship.
Ireland plays an extra international match on 30 November when URC has already resumed.
Ireland/Scotland/Wales/Italy have the 6-nations in Feb/March when the SA teams dont have anything on those 5 weekends.
feb and March I think is mandatory rest periods for bok players
Have a feeling we're not getting a Munster vs Leinster final
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