THE FIXTURES for the upcoming United Rugby Championship season have been released today. The new campaign will begin in 50 days' time.
Leinster, Munster, Ulster, and Connacht all found out their opening day opponents, and also know when they will face each other during the year.
Ulster and Connacht will face each other in the first round on the 17th of September at the Kingspan Stadium.
The second Connacht away game of the URC season is against current champions DHL Stormers in Cape Town
Munster's first test in the URC under new manager Graham Rowntree is an away trip to Cardiff.
During round 4 Munster will welcome Connacht to Thomond Park. They will then travel to Dublin to face Leinster in round 6.
Beaten Champions Cup finalists Leinster will travel to Italy to face Zebre Parma in week one. In week three Leinster will face Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium. They'll then face their other rivals Connacht in Round 5.
Martin Anayi, URC CEO, said: “The diversity of our league we so proudly celebrate, is also a reason for the immense complexity of putting together our Season 2 fixtures.
1️⃣6️⃣ Teams 4️⃣ Shields 1️⃣ Trophy — United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) July 28, 2022
The URC Season 22/23 fixtures are here 🏉📆
Kick off times & more information will be confirmed in early August ⌚️#URC | #URCFixtures
"This is a monumental task, and it takes many stakeholders many long hours dedicated to making this the best club rugby championship in the world.
"We have to consider a variety of factors across our 16 clubs and five territories, but we believe that our season schedule will give our fans the best rugby week in and week out.
"My heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who has worked tirelessly to put together a blockbuster fixture list right from Round 1.”
“We have seen the success of our tournament format culminating in the grandest of Grand Finals last season and we look forward to going on this journey with our fans and with our stakeholders to another successful year of world-class rugby in action”.
All 16 teams in the URC are ranked across a single table, which will reward the top eight teams with their places in the Final Eight (quarter-finals), followed by a Final Four (semi-finals), to set the stage for the Grand Final. Every game counts. Any team can win on any given weekend.
The URC starts on 16 September 2022 and will end in Round 18 on 23 April 2023.
All four Irish provinces fixtures can be found here by clicking the hyperlinks.
