United Rugby Championship: Inaugural play-off schedule announced following stellar regular season

Stan Wilson 23 May 2022 8:13 AM

With the inaugural United Rugby Championship regular season in the books, the play-offs are now upon us with eight teams set to battle it out for the hemisphere-spanning league’s trophy.

The four quarter-final matches will be played on the same weekend as the Premiership’s final round, with games being set for Friday, June 3 and Saturday, June 4.

Kicking off the ‘Final Eight’ on the Friday night will be an all-Irish showdown between Ulster and Munster at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast before the remaining knock-out fixtures are played the following day.

Free up your calendars

First up on Saturday is another non-international fixture with the Sharks travelling to Pretoria at 12:45 BST, allowing ample time before Glasgow take their punishment for losing the 1872 Cup: a trip to Leinster.

This game will kick off at 15:15 BST, two-and-a-half hours after the first game to make room for a potential extra-time period and place kicking competition – smart planning from the URC to maximise on viewers.

This zero-overlap scheduling continues into the evening when Edinburgh visit Cape Town for a battle with the Stormers to decide who will face the winner of Ulster v Munster.

All four games in the ‘Final Eight’ will be broadcast live in the UK and Ireland by Premier Sports and by SuperSport in South Africa while URC TV will serve fans in Ireland and internationally.

Here’s each team’s path to the final:

Friday

Quarter-final three: Ulster vs Munster

Kick-off: 19:35 BST (18:35 GMT)

Saturday

Quarter-final four: Bulls v Sharks

Kick-off: 13:45 local (12:45 BST, 11:45 GMT)

Quarter-final one: Leinster vs Glasgow Warriors

Kick-off: 15:15 BST (14:15 GMT)

Quarter-final two: Stormers vs Edinburgh

Kick-off: 19:00 local (18:00 BST, 17:00 GMT)

The winners of quarter-final one play at home to the winners of quarter-final four in the semi-final and the winners of quarter-final two play at home to the winners of quarter-final three in the other semi-final.

The host of the URC’s ‘Grand Final’ will be the finalist with the most regular season points – note that this points-based system does not apply for the semi-finals.

Leinster (67 points), Stormers (61), Ulster (59), Bulls (58), Sharks (57), Munster (56), Edinburgh (54), Glasgow Warriors (50) was how the season finished.

Bulls