The 2024–25 United Rugby Championship will be the 24rd season of the professional rugby union competition known as the United Rugby Championship, and the fourth season under that name. It began on 20 September 2024 and will end on 14 June 2025.[1]
2024–25 United Rugby Championship | |
---|---|
Countries | Ireland Italy Scotland South Africa Wales |
Date | 20 September 2024 – 14 June 2025 |
Matches played | 6 |
Attendance | 49,727 (average 8,288 per match) |
Tries scored | 41 (average 6.8 per match) |
Official website | |
unitedrugby | |
Format
editThe season consists of 21 rounds: 18 rounds of regular season play, followed by three rounds of play-offs.
There are four regional pools: The Irish Shield pool (featuring the four Irish teams), the Welsh Shield pool (featuring the four Welsh teams), the South African Shield pool (featuring the four South African teams) and the Scottish/Italian 'Azzurri/Blue' Shield pool (featuring the two Italian and two Scottish sides). The pools serve two functions; they guarantee a full slate of derby matches for each team, and they award a minor Regional Shield trophy to the top team in each pool, which thereby functions as a national championship in three of the four pools, and a cross-border regional championship in the Scottish–Italian pool. The winner of each Shield will be determined solely from the games played amongst the teams within their regional pool, mirroring the format of the old Interprovincial Championship in Ireland.[2]
Teams play six matches against their regional pool rivals home and away. The remaining twelve matches are made up by a single round robin, consisting of an even number of six home and six away matches against all the sides from the other pools.[3]
For the Championship itself, there is one main league table. The top eight sides in the table will qualify for the quarter-finals, followed by semi-finals and a grand final, with teams seeded 1 to 4 with home advantage for the lowest seeded side. The Regional Shield pools have no direct link to the play-offs and by extension the Championship itself, and it is technically possible to win a Regional Shield but not contest the play-offs, as the Welsh sides showed in 2022 and 2023.[3]
Teams
editUnited Rugby Championship
editLocations
editLocation of Irish, Scottish and Welsh teams: | Location of Italian teams:
2024–25 United Rugby Championship (Northern Italy) Location of South African teams: |
Regional Shield competitions
editRegional shield standing will be based entirely on performances against other teams within the same conference.[2] Therefore, only six games for each team will count towards the regional shields.
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Irish Shield | |||||||||||||||||
Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TBP | LBP | Pts | Pos overall | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Munster | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 33 | +2 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | |||
2 | Connacht | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 33 | 35 | –2 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||
3 | Leinster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||
4 | Ulster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |||
Scottish/Italian Shield | |||||||||||||||||
Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TBP | LBP | Pts | Pos overall | ||||
1 | Glasgow Warriors | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 10 | +32 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | |||
2 | Edinburgh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||
3 | Zebre Parma | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||
4 | Benetton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 42 | –32 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | |||
South African Shield | |||||||||||||||||
Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TBP | LBP | Pts | Pos overall | ||||
1 | Lions | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | |||
2 | Bulls | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 16 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | |||
3 | Sharks | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 30 | 36 | -6 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 | |||
4 | Stormers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 37 | -13 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | |||
Welsh Shield | |||||||||||||||||
Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TBP | LBP | Pts | Pos overall | ||||
1 | Cardiff | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 15 | +9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | |||
2 | Dragons | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 21 | +2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | |||
3 | Ospreys | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 23 | –2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||
4 | Scarlets | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 24 | –9 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | |||
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[5]
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Green background indicates teams currently leading the regional shield. Upon the conclusion of the regular season, these teams win their respective regional shields. (S) : URC Shield champion |
URC league standings
edit
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Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Leinster | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 37 | +30 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10 | ||||
2 | Cardiff | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 32 | +14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | ||||
3 | Connacht | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 69 | 65 | +4 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||||
4 | Glasgow Warriors | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 61 | 30 | +31 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||
5 | Ospreys | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 47 | +11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||
6 | Zebre Parma | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 59 | 55 | +4 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||
7 | Munster | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 68 | 75 | –7 | 10 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 6 | ||||
8 | Lions | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 22 | +13 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||||
9 | Ulster | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 42 | 54 | –12 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||||
10 | Bulls | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 16 | +6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||||
11 | Dragons | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 55 | –26 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||||
12 | Edinburgh | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 47 | 55 | –8 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
13 | Scarlets | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 35 | 44 | –9 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||
14 | Benetton | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 62 | –32 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||
15 | Sharks | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 30 | 36 | –6 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||
16 | Stormers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 37 | –13 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[6]
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Green background indicates teams that are in play-off places and earn a place in the 2025–26 European Champions Cup Pink background indicates teams that are in play-off places and earn a place in the 2025–26 European Challenge Cup |
European qualification
editPriority order for European Champions Cup qualification is:
- 2024–25 United Rugby Championship champions
- the European Rugby Champions Cup champions (if a URC team but not already qualified as above)
- the EPCR Challenge Cup champions (if a URC team but not already qualified as above)
- the next highest-ranked teams during regular season play not already qualified as above, until eight overall qualifiers have been selected.
Matches
editThe following are the match results for the 2024–25 United Rugby Championship regular season:
Home \ Away | BEN | BUL | CAR | CON | DRA | EDI | GLA | LEI | LIO | MUN | OSP | SCA | SHA | STO | ULS | ZEB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Benetton | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | 20-20 | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Bulls | TBC | TBC | 22-16 | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Cardiff | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | 22-17 | |||||||
Connacht | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | 36-30 | TBC | |||||||
Dragons | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | 23-21 | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Edinburgh | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | 31-33 | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Glasgow Warriors | 42-10 | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Leinster | TBC | TBC | 34-6 | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Lions | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | 35-22 | |||||||
Munster | TBC | TBC | 35-33 | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Ospreys | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | 37-24 | |||||||
Scarlets | TBC | 15-24 | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Sharks | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Stormers | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Ulster | TBC | 20-19 | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | |||||||
Zebre Parma | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | 42-33 | TBC | TBC |
Colours: Green: home team win; Yellow: draw; Red: away team win; Blue: upcoming matches
Regular season
editRound 1
edit20 September 2024 19:35 |
(1 BP) Cardiff | 22–17 | Zebre Parma (1 BP) |
Try: Winnett 9' Stephens 18' D. Thomas 23' McNally 56' Con: Sheedy 10' | Try: Bertaccini 64' Locatelli 81' Con: Da Re (2) 65', 82' Pen: Montemauri 8' |
Cardiff Arms Park Attendance: 6,291[7] Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland) |
20 September 2024 19:35 |
(2 BP) Edinburgh | 31–33 | Leinster (1 BP) |
Try: Schoeman 11' van der Merwe (2) 32', 66' Cherry 42' M. Scott 80' Con: Thompson (2) 11', 43' Healy 81' | Try: T. O'Brien 15' Tector 26' Larmour 46' Gibson-Park 53' Conan 56' Con: Prendergast (4) 27', 47', 54', 58' |
Edinburgh Rugby Stadium Attendance: 7,774[8] Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy) |
21 September 2024 15:00 |
Dragons | 23–21 | Ospreys (1 BP) |
Try: Keddie 26' Yendle 83' Con: L. Evans (2) 27', 84' Pen: L. Evans (3) 1', 23', 77' | Try: K. Williams 19' Conbeer 45' Con: Edwards 20' Pen: Edwards (3) 7', 33', 37' |
Rodney Parade, Newport Attendance: 5,181[9] Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales) |
21 September 2024 17:30 |
(1 BP) Munster | 35–33 | Connacht (2 BP) |
Try: Nankivell 28' Haley 31' Hodnett 44' Coombes 58' Daly 69' Con: Burns (3) 28', 32', 45' Butler (2) 59', 70' | Try: Ioane 13' B. Murphy (2) 20', 39' Hawkshaw 53' Forde 63' Con: Ioane (3) 21', 54', 64' Forde 40' |
Thomond Park, Limerick Attendance: 15,705[10] Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland) |
21 September 2024 20:35 |
Benetton | 20–20 | Scarlets |
Try: Ratave (2) 21', 78' Smith 31' Con: Umaga 32' Pen: Umaga 48' | Try: Page 40' Taylor 52' Con: Lloyd (2) 41', 53' Pen: Lloyd (2) 59', 67' |
Stadio Monigo, Treviso Attendance: 3,243[11] Referee: Ian Kenny (Scotland) |
21 September 2024 19:45 |
Ulster | 20–19 | Glasgow Warriors (1 BP) |
Try: Morgan 18' McCann 72' Shanahan 84' Con: Doak 19' Pen: Doak 16' | Report[12] | Try: Matthews 5' Venter 25' Steyn 74' Con: Jordan 26' Hastings 75' |
Ravenhill Stadium, Belfast Attendance: 11,533 Referee: Adam Jones (Wales) |
Round 2
edit27 September 2024 19:35 |
(1 BP) Glasgow Warriors | 42–10 | Benetton |
Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow Attendance: 6,441[13] |
28 September 2024 12:55 |
(1 BP) Lions | 35–22 | Ulster (1 BP) |
Try: Maxwane 10' m F. Horn 34' c Marais 46' m van Wyk 49' c Wolhuter 79' m Con: Wolhuter (2/4) 35', 51' Pen: Wolhuter (2/2) 14', 57' | Try: Cooney 40+3' m Morgan 42' m Kok 59' m Barrett 77' c Con: Doak (1/2) 78' |
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg |
28 September 2024 15:00 |
Bulls | 22–16 | Edinburgh (1 BP) |
Try: Kirsten 29' c van der Walt 32' m Moodie 63' c Con: van der Walt (1/2) 29' Chamberlain (1/1) 65' Pen: Chamberlain (1/1) 68' | Try: Ashman 38' c Con: Thompson (1/1) 40' Pen: Thompson (3/3) 14', 47', 74' |
Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria Attendance: 5,500[15] |
28 September 2024 16:00 |
(1 BP) Zebre Parma | 42–33 | Munster (1 BP) |
Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma Attendance: 2,300[16] |
Round 3
editRound 4
editRound 5
editRound 6
editRound 7
editRound 8
editRound 9
editRound 10
editRound 11
editRound 12
editRound 13
editRound 14
editRound 15
editRound 16
editRound 17
editRound 18
editKnockout stage
editBracket
editQuarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
The play-off draw is seeded based on final positions in the regular season league table.
The higher-ranked teams have home advantage in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
Quarter-finals
edit30/31 May 2025 |
TBC | v | TBC |
TBC |
30/31 May 2025 |
TBC | v | TBC |
TBC |
30/31 May 2025 |
TBC | v | TBC |
TBC |
30/31 May 2025 |
TBC | v | TBC |
TBC |
Semi-finals
edit7 June 2025 |
TBC | v | TBC |
TBC |
7 June 2025 |
TBC | v | TBC |
TBC |
Final
edit14 June 2025 |
TBC | v | TBC |
TBC |
References
edit- ^ "Full 2024/2025 URC Fixture List". United Rugby Championship.
- ^ a b "Meritocracy Qualification Will Make URC Stronger". United Rugby Championship. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
- ^ a b "United Rugby Championship Format Explained". Pro14. 15 June 2021. Archived from the original on 15 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ^ "DHL Stormers to face Edinburgh at DHL Stadium". The Stormers. 14 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
- ^ League Format (3) "Competition Rules". United Rugby Championship. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ League Format (3) "Competition Rules". United Rugby Championship. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ "Cardiff Rugby Fixtures and Results", 22 Sep 2024
- ^ "Edinburgh v Leinster: old failings again in evidence as home team go down to opening-day defeat", The Offside Line, 22 Sep 2024
- ^ "Dragons Fixtures and Results", 22 Sep 2024
- ^ "WATCH: Munster Rugby edge Connacht in thrilling 10-try URC interpro derby at Thomond Park", limericklive, 22 Sep 2024
- ^ "Scarlets Fixtures and Results", 22 Sep 2024
- ^ "Last-gasp Ulster start URC season with Glasgow win", BBC Sport, 21 September 2024
- ^ "Glasgow vs Benetton: Warriors storm to home win after Italian indiscipline proves costly", The Offside Line, 29 Sep 2024
- ^ "Leinster stutter on way to bonus-point win v Dragons", RTE, 29 Sep 2024
- ^ "Everitt: Accuracy is letting us down", The Rugby Paper, 29 Sep 2024
- ^ "Impresa Zebre! Munster Fermato 42-33 Al Lanfranchi", Zebre Parma, 29 Sep 2024
- ^ "Scarlets Rugby Fixtures and Results", 29 Sep 2024
- ^ "Ospreys Rugby Fixtures and Results", 29 Sep 2024