URC FIRST ROUND: A clutch of really tough starts

If it weren’t for the decision to delay until February or March the scheduled first round local derbies, the South African teams would now have been nervously approaching a combustible start to the marathon that is the Vodacom United Rugby Championship season.

Last year’s beaten finalists, the Vodacom Bulls, were due in Cape Town to play a north/south derby which arguably shouldn’t be played this early in the competition given its standing on the local rugby calendar.

It always takes people a while to click into a new season and even though it is hard to talk about distinct seasons at this time when rugby appears to have become a 12 month a year business in SA, there’d probably have been a smaller turnout for Stormers/Bulls now than there would be in February or March, when it is hoped the two teams can also be at full strength.

The Hollywoodbets Sharks would have started at home too, with the Emirates Lions as their opponents. Instead the Sharks XV, with the XV added to signify that the Durban union knows the domestic league is now a development competition, are playing the Fidelity ADT Lions, in other words the same team with a different sponsor, in the Carling Currie Cup final.

Enough has probably been said about the logic, or lack of it, of timing the Currie Cup to finish at the same time as the URC starts, but what is apparent is that the South African derbies that were scheduled and then rescheduled were part of a trend for the first round.

For this opening weekend it appears there are tough games for every team we might consider to be challengers for a top four finish that signifies home advantage in the playoffs.

LEINSTER GO IN SEARCH OF NO1 FINISH

It starts on Friday night with Sean Everett’s Edinburgh team, who showed signs of growth last season before fading towards the end, hosting Leinster. The Dublin giants faltered on the first day of last season, losing to the other Scottish team, the Glasgow Warriors, and have chosen a strong side to prevent that from happening again.

The narrative around Leinster being nearly men, who dominate competitions until they reach the sharp end of the knock-out phase, is gathering more momentum which each season that passes without a trophy. They have now gone three in a row where they’ve lost tight Investec Champions Cup finals and been blown out of the URC at the semifinal stage.

Perhaps more of a focus on their bread and butter competition, the URC, will help Leinster, who surely must have learned their lesson from last year’s semifinal defeat in Pretoria, where they pitched to play the Bulls with a team that had been denied the opportunity by the selection policy of getting better acquainted with conditions during the league phase of competition.

Leinster finished third on the log last season, with was down from their top place finish in the first two years of the URC, but expect them this year to put a big effort into getting back to No 1, which will ensure the knock-out phase of both competitions they would expect to be part of is not further complicated by them having to travel.

They will be up against an Edinburgh team that is heading to South Africa next week to face the Bulls, which is also a tough ask, so the hosts, who have another South African with KZN connections in Scott Mathie on their staff this season, will be sure to throw everything into getting the win that will give them some kind of buffer before they go to Pretoria.

ULSTER V WARRIORS IS HARD TO CALL

The smart money though will be on Leinster winning, something we should be less inclined to say about the big game between Ulster and the Glasgow Warriors that will draw the curtain on the first weekend of competition. Ulster had a tough season in 2023/24 and changed coach in mid-season, but they were in the top four in the first two seasons of the URC so should not be written off as challengers to get back there this term.

At home at the Kingspan they represent an extremely tough early obstacle for Franco Smith’s newly crowned champions and as this is early season where there is no form to go on, we should avoid making a call on who will win.

Cardiff hosting Zebre is an easier call, with the hosts as clear favourites even though we should expect more from Zebre this year than in seasons past, while Munster should have the edge in what will be a tough Irish derby against Connacht.

Benetton showed in the early part of last season and again in their quarterfinal, where they pushed the Bulls all the way in Pretoria and were unlucky not to win, that they should be taken seriously this year in a competition that, with the Sharks likely to be a reawakening giant, should have more contenders for top honours than ever before.

Last year we saw a logjam in the final weeks that was only sorted out on the final day and we are likely to see a repeat when the league phase reaches its climax next May.

Vodacom United Rugby Championship first round fixtures

 Edinburgh v Leinster (Edinburgh, Friday 8:35pm)

Cardiff Rugby v Zebre (Cardiff, Friday 8:35pm)

Dragons v Ospreys (Newport, Saturday 4pm)

Munster v Connacht (Limerick, Saturday 6:30pm)

Benetton v Scarlets (Treviso, Saturday 8:35pm)

Ulster v Glasgow Warriors (Belfast, Saturday 8:35pm)