Following the release of the 2025/26 United Rugby Championship fixtures, here are our five takeaways.
Leinster’s tough start
Leo Cullen’s side charged to 13 wins on the trot to kick off the 2024/25 URC season, but their next campaign won’t be plain sailing with the fixtures they have lined up.
Leinster feature in the opening game of the new season, and they are on the road as they head to South Africa to tackle the Stormers in Cape Town.
In the four previous meetings against the side from the Cape, the Irish side have won just once, a 36-12 victory earlier this year, falling to a defeat twice and playing out a 22-all stalemate in March 2023.
They have lost both of their clashes with the Stormers in the Western Cape and after their opener, it does not get much easier as they head to Pretoria to face the Bulls in round two.
Loftus is also not a happy hunting ground for Cullen and co. having lost on all three of their trips to Pretoria, which includes a 62-7 hammering.
When they return home, they will host the Sharks in Dublin, which is followed by an inter-pro derby against Munster.
What makes this run of four fixtures all the more difficult is that Leinster are bound to be without their British and Irish Lions stars, with 12 of them set to travel to Australia, and they could be further depleted by players being rested after Ireland’s July internationals.
It’s fair to say that Leinster’s depth will be well and truly tested at the start of the new campaign.
Judgement Day binned
After over a decade of being the highlight of the Welsh club rugby calendar, Judgement Day has been ‘paused’ for the upcoming season, the WRU have confirmed.
This comes after a disappointing turnout of just 28,000 for this season’s event. To add salt to the WRU’s wounds, the Bristol Bears took a Premiership fixture to the Principality earlier this month and they enjoyed a healthy crowd of 51,095.
“We will rethink the product we are offering and bring back an event to showcase Welsh professional rugby in the future,” a PRB spokesperson said.
“The concept has huge potential and its early incarnations were a proven success, but we think it is time to re-imagine it. Instead, this season will see Welsh rugby concentrate on attracting maximum crowds for the respective derby days and other showcase fixtures at our home venues.”
While the statement seemed optimistic, this is just another hammer blow to the WRU and the state of Welsh rugby. The fact that Bristol were able to attract a much bigger crowd for a one-off Premiership match compared to a day out of two Welsh derbies has clearly set off the alarm bells.
Hopefully, the ‘re-imagined’ Judgement Day will be a success, as it is sad to see such a classic event die a sorrowful death.
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Festive Derbies
While the festivities of Judgement Day won’t be celebrated in Wales, there are several standout fixtures during the month of December to look forward to.
The South Africans are still getting used to the concept, but will surely look forward to the Sharks v Bulls in Durban and the Stormers v Lions in Cape on December 20.
It’s yet to be confirmed if the other SA derbies after Christmas will in fact take place then or if those round eight fixtures will be moved.
Meanwhile, the Irish will be treated to a Munster-Leinster derby after the holidays while Connacht host Ulster. The Scots will battle it out for the 1872 Cup on the 20th and 27th of December, which is always great value.
All-in-all, the competition always delivers with the derbies around the festive period and next season won’t be any different with mouth-watering fixtures littered throughout December and early January.
Bulls’ Race to Eight run-in
While Leinster face a challenging start to the season, Bulls boss Jake White will be happy with the latter stages of their fixture list.
The Bulls impressed on tour recently, beating former URC champions Munster and Glasgow in the north during a taxing tour which included a Challenge Cup knockout match.
But considering this season’s performances, they have a far easier run in the Race to Eight with away games against the Scarlets and Dragons in rounds 15 and 16 before returning to Pretoria for meetings with Benetton and Zebre to conclude the regular season.
There is a really challenging run of games before then facing the Sharks, Cardiff and Munster with Champions Cup matches in between, which will be difficult to navigate, but it’s certainly an easier run during the crucial final matches of the season.
November international clash
Fitting all the URC and EPCR matches into the calendar is challenging enough before the added headaches of the Six Nations, Rugby Championship, July and November internationals.
While the URC organisers have done a reasonably grand job in avoiding clashes, there is one glaring fixture clash in November when the Springboks and Wales collide at the Principality Stadium.
The fixture falls outside of World Rugby’s official international window, taking place on November 29.
On the same day, the Bulls are scheduled to face the Lions in Pretoria while the Stormers clash with Munster at Thomond Park. The Sharks are also in action against Connacht.
The Welsh sides will also be in action, with Cardiff playing Zebre, the Scarlets hosting Glasgow, while the Dragons host Leinster and the Ospreys are in action against Edinburgh.
It’s a real shame that there is a clash but understandably the unions need to fill their coffers, which will impact round six of the URC.
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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/2025-26-urc-five-takeaways-including-springboks-fixture-clash-leinsters-incredibly-tough-start-and-judgement-days-binning
