How To Watch Every Rugby Match Of The URC 2024-2025 Season In The U.S.
How To Watch Every Rugby Match Of The URC 2024-2025 Season In The U.S.
The United Rugby Championship 2024-2025 season begins Sept. 20, 2024, and every match is streaming live in the United States.
The United Rugby Championship returns on Sept. 20 with the fourth season under its current format that features 16 teams divided into four shields.
The season will begin Sept. 20 with Round 1 action and will span 18 rounds of regular-season matches before the playoffs begin May 30.
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The top eight teams from the league qualify for the playoffs, and the mission is to end the season at the Grand Final, which will be played at the highest-seeded team’s home grounds at 10 a.m. ET on June 14.
URC action is streaming live in the United States all season long. Here’s what to know.:
How To Watch URC Rugby In The United States
Every URC match is streaming live in the United States on FloRugby and the FloSports app. Replays, highlights and breaking news will be on both platforms.
What Is The United Rugby Championship Format?
The URC is 16 clubs divided into four shields:
Irish Shield:
- Leinster Rugby
- Munster Rugby
- Ulster Rugby
- Connacht Rugby
Italian And Scottish Shield:
- Glasgow Warriors
- Edinburgh Rugby
- Zebre Parma
- Benetton Rugby
South African Shield:
- Vodacom Bulls
- DHL Stormers
- Emirates Lions
- Hollywoodbets Sharks
Welsh Shield:
- Ospreys
- Scarlets
- Cardiff Rugby
- Dragons RFC
The shields used to play a bigger role in the EPCR qualifications, but Investec Champions Cup more or less ignores the shield winners and takes the top eight teams.
How Do URC Teams Make The Playoffs?
The top eight teams in the standings, or table, advance to the playoffs. The team with the best record in the regular season will host the playoff game.
How Does The 2024-2025 URC Season Schedule Work?
The rugby schedule in general can be a difficult one to understand, especially for sports fans in the United States used to seeing teams play in one league for eight months straight.
The URC plays 16 rounds from Sept. 20 to May 17. In that span, the league will enter several hiatuses.
The teams that finished in the top eight of the standings the previous season will play for the Investec Champions Cup-- the European Professional Club Championship. The bottom eight teams will play in the EPCR Challenge Cup.
Last year, Leinster Rugby lost for the third straight year in the Champions Cup Final, while the Hollywoodbets Sharks won the Challenge Cup.
This year, there will be nearly a month between Round 7 and Round 8 (Nov. 30-Dec. 20), as the European championship tournaments pool play begins on Dec. 6. Another month gap will be between Round 9 and Round 10 (Jan. 1-Jan. 24).
The URC season also deals with international teams taking players for the Autumn Nations and Six Nations tournaments.
Here's Where To Find The URC Schedule On FloRugby
Where Are The United Rugby Championship Teams From?
Some teams bear the name of the cities they are from. The Scottish teams are from Glasgow and Edinburgh, but the rest can be confusing.
Irish Shield:
Irish teams are named after their provinces in Ireland. Leinster in the east, Munster in the south, Connacht in the west and Ulster in the north. Here are the cities they call home:
- Leinster Rugby: Dublin
- Munster Rugby: Limerick and Cork
- Ulster Rugby: Belfast
- Connacht Rugby: Galway
Italian And Scottish Shield:
The Scottish clubs keep things easy. The Italians not so much. Zebra Parma is named after the town in which they play, Parma, Italy, but the first name comes from the Zebra-like stripes the club wears. Benetton is named after the clothing company that has owned the team since 1979, though it used to be named "Benetton Rugby Treviso" after the town in which it plays. Here's where the teams play:
- Glasgow Warriors
- Edinburgh Rugby
- Zebre Parma: Parma
- Benetton Rugby: Treviso
South African Shield:
South African clubs have sponsorship deals that provide the names. Here's where the clubs play:
- Vodacom Bulls: Pretoria
- DHL Stormers: Cape Town
- Emirates Lions: Johannesburg
- Hollywoodbets Sharks: Durban
Welsh Shield:
Here's where the clubs are from:
- Ospreys: Swansea
- Scarlets: Llanelli
- Cardiff Rugby: Cardiff
- RFC Dragons: Newport
What Were The 2023-2024 URC Final Standings?
Here is the table from last season:
| URC Clubs | PL | W | D | L | BP | PF | PA | DIFF | PTS | |
| 1 | MUNSTER RUGBY | 18 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 483 | 318 | 165 | 68 |
| 2 | VODACOM BULLS | 18 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 639 | 433 | 206 | 66 |
| 3 | LEINSTER RUGBY | 18 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 554 | 350 | 204 | 65 |
| 4 | GLASGOW WARRIORS | 18 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 519 | 353 | 166 | 65 |
| 5 | DHL STORMERS | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 468 | 348 | 120 | 59 |
| 6 | ULSTER RUGBY | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 437 | 409 | 28 | 54 |
| 7 | BENETTON RUGBY | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 411 | 400 | 11 | 54 |
| 8 | OSPREYS | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 414 | 449 | -35 | 50 |
| 9 | EMIRATES LIONS | 18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 14 | 526 | 398 | 128 | 50 |
| 10 | EDINBURGH RUGBY | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 416 | 397 | 19 | 49 |
| 11 | CONNACHT RUGBY | 18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 404 | 432 | -28 | 45 |
| 12 | CARDIFF RUGBY | 18 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 14 | 389 | 414 | -25 | 32 |
| 13 | SCARLETS | 18 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 313 | 575 | -262 | 27 |
| 14 | HOLLYWOODBETS SHARKS | 18 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 9 | 343 | 431 | -88 | 25 |
| 15 | DRAGONS RFC | 18 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 300 | 611 | -311 | 16 |
| 16 | ZEBRE PARMA | 18 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 345 | 643 | -298 | 15 |
When Does The 2024-2025 Investec Champions Cup Begin? When Is The Champions Cup Final?
The Investec Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup begin on Dec. 6 and the four-round pool play action ends on Jan. 19, 2025. The Round of 16 starts on April 4, while the quarterfinals are April 11-13 and the semifinals are May 2-4.
The EPCR Championships weekend is in Cardiff, Wales at Principality Stadium. There are championship games on May 23 (EPCR Challenge Cup) and May 24 (Investec Champions Cup).
What Are The Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup Pools?
Here are the pools.
Investec Champions Cup:
- Toulouse (Stade Toulousain)
- Bordeaux-Bègles (Union Bordeaux-Bègles)
- Hollywoodbets Sharks
- Exeter Chiefs
- Leicester Tigers
- Ulster Rugby
Pool 2:
- Leinster Rugby
- Clermont Auvergne (ASM Clermont Auvergne)
- La Rochelle (Stade Rochelais)
- Bristol Bears
- Benetton Rugby
- Bath Rugby
Pool 3:
- Northampton Saints
- Munster Rugby
- Vodacom Bulls
- Stade Français Paris
- Saracens
- Castres Olympique
Pool 4:
- Glasgow Warriors
- Racing 92
- Sale Sharks
- DHL Stormers
- Toulon (RC Toulon)
- Harlequins
EPCR Challenge Cup
Pool 1:
- Cardiff Rugby
- Connacht Rugby
- Toyota Cheetahs
- Perpignan (USAP)
- Lyon Olympique Universitaire (Lyon O.U.)
- Zebre Parma
Pool 2:
- Montpellier Hérault Rugby
- Pau (Section Paloise)
- Newcastle Falcons
- Dragons RFC
- Emirates Lions
- Ospreys
Pool 3:
- RC Vannes
- Black Lion
- Bayonne (Aviron Bayonnais)
- Scarlets
- Edinburgh Rugby
- Gloucester Rugby
How To Watch Rugby Matches In the United States On FloRugby
FloRugby and FloSports also are the U.S. home to:
FloRugby also is home to match archives and match replays.