One Big Thing To Know About Every United Rugby Championship Round 6 Match
One Big Thing To Know About Every United Rugby Championship Round 6 Match
Here's one big thing to know about every match in Round 6 of URC action.
With the end of the first block of the 2024-2025 United Rugby Championship season coming after this weekend’s matches, it’ll be the last time in a few weeks that we’ll see the best of the best clubs from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and South Africa battle it out in one of the toughest club rugby competitions in the world.
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We’ll reach the one-third point of the season once things wrap up in Round 6, and as numerous star players across the URC go off to play end-of-year international tests with their countries, we’ll be a left with a good barometer of where the league stands and which teams are in good shape — or have work to do — for the rest of the way.
Going into the international break on a high note will be a key point of emphasis for all 16 URC clubs this weekend, and before everyone goes their separate ways for a month, expect multiple clubs to try and put up statement performances.
Here’s one big thing you need to know about every Round 6 match coming up in the United Rugby Championship this weekend, streamed in the U.S. live, and exclusively, on FloRugby:
Vodacom Bulls At Benetton Rugby
Firepower Up Front
The Italians picked up a key win over the Dragons in Round 5 to put them back among the top eight teams on the URC table, with the way they did it being particularly notable.
All four of Benetton’s tries in its bonus-point victory at Rodney Parade were scored by forwards — with three of those tries coming in the second half, showcasing the club’s grittiness and stamina late in the match.
Bautista Bernasconi, Enzo Avaca, Marco Manfredi and Lorenzo Cannone all had five-pointers to get Benetton its second win of the season and have it currently be in possession of eighth place on scoring differential ahead of ninth-place Cardiff.
There’s an opportunity for the Italians to go into the international break with four wins/draws from six, but even in front of home support, they will be in for a challenge against a Bulls side full of Springboks and reeling off a loss to the Scarlets in Round 5.
Zebre Parma At Scarlets
Avoiding The Hangover
From coming back from a 12-point deficit to upsetting what was an unbeaten Bulls team, the Scarlets are coming off of a legendary night in Llanelli, where they picked up their first home win of the URC campaign in a massive way.
Blair Murray and Tom Rogers scored in the second half for the Welsh club to get the Scarlets a thriller of a 23-22 triumph over the touring South Africans, upsetting one of last season’s finalists
The Scarlets took advantage of a (since rescinded) late red card from the Bulls’ Johan Grobbelaar with 13 minutes to play to take the lead and hold on the rest of the way.
The Scarlets’ goal heading into the final fixture of the first block of matches? Don’t immediately follow the win with an underwhelming performance against 15th-place Zebre, which almost upset the Lions this past weekend and already has a major upset over Munster this year.
Glasgow Warriors At DHL Stormers
Better Late Than Never?
The defending league champion Glasgow Warriors were on the verge of a statement drubbing at the hands of the Sharks in Durban last weekend, down 28-12 with under five minutes to play and in danger of losing ground in the table to the unbeaten Lions and Leinster above them.
It was then that Rory Darge and Johnny Matthews each scored tries in the final moments of the match, narrowly getting the tourists both a losing and try-scoring bonus point following a first-half brace from George Horne.
That mentality to fight back and squeeze whatever it can from a near-hopeless situation is a big reason why the Warriors are defending champions and even with points in the standings with the second-place Lions.
Table-topping Leinster can do Glasgow a favor by handing the Lions their first loss this weekend, but the Warriors will need to take care of business against their own South African opponent, too, especially following the Stormers’ impressive 34-19 win over Munster in Cape Town in Round 5.
Munster Rugby At Hollywoodbets Sharks
No Southern Hospitality
Munster needs to find a spark before the international break, with the province and previous year’s top-seeded team entering the knockout rounds having lost three matches from five so far, including losing four from 18 last URC season.
Their woes continued last weekend against the Stormers, as their South African tour got off to a rough start, with a rematch of the 2023 URC final going the hosts' way. The Stormers were able to break their own losing slump to start the year after dropping two of their first three.
There’s still a lot of time left in the year for Munster to recover and climb back up the URC ladder, but strong wins need to come sooner than later.
Enter a potential chance of that happening — in a match that will be far from easy — as its South African tour continues against the Sharks, who saw Springboks captain Siya Kolisi score last week for the first time since he transferred back to the club from French giants Racing 92 in the offseason.
Edinburgh Rugby At Ospreys
Edinburgh Turning Corner?
Battered at the beginning of this month in Johannesburg by the Lions, in a match in which it had the largest halftime deficit in the history of the URC, Edinburgh’s past two weeks since that dreadful day have been spectacular.
First was a statement bounce-back win over the Stormers in Round 4 to rid itself of three straight defeats to start the season, then the next week against Cardiff, Edinburgh scored four tries through four players in the second half to roll to a bonus-point win at the Hive Stadium — and boost itself up to sixth place in the table.
And, while it has been 15 years since Edinburgh won against the Ospreys in Swansea, a reeling Ospreys side that’s anchored to last place in the standings and an in-form Duhan van der Merwe - who is tied for the URC lead in clean breaks with eight - may mean that Edinburgh is about to have a field day in Wales before the break.
Emirates Lions At Leinster Rugby
Unbeaten vs. Unbeaten
The obvious marquee matchup of the weekend, Leinster and the Lions are the only two teams in the URC without a defeat, and (barring a draw) only one club will emerge from the fire without a loss to its name.
Leinster, in front of what should be another strong atmosphere at the Aviva Stadium, should be favored; with 17 players on the team named to Ireland’s end-of-year test squad and a brilliant winning run to start the URC season that’s featured five bonus-point wins from five, the provincial giants can reach the 30-point mark in a blisteringly fast six games and further build upon an already-commanding seven-point lead atop the table.
The Lions have won four from four, though it hasn’t always come easy; Zebre Parma gave the South Africans a scare in Round 5, with the Lions having to hold onto a one-point lead for over half an hour to keep their unblemished record intact.
Still, get the popcorn ready, as no URC match has had higher stakes this year than this one.
Newport Dragons At Connacht Rugby
Who Steps Forward?
Though Connacht came up empty in an interpro showdown at home last week against Leinster, odds are that it would be satisfied with three wins in its first six matches of the season if it can get the victory on the road in Round 6 against the Dragons.
Likely to get Ireland wing Mack Hansen back from a hip injury that caused him to miss Round 5, the Westerners should be able to get a little extra sharpness in their attack with his return.
Meanwhile, the Dragons need a change in form quick before their 2024-2025 URC campaign potentially dips south, and fast; an opening-weekend win against the Ospreys has been followed up by four straight defeats, including a winnable game at home this past weekend against Benetton that saw the Newport-based side drop to 14th place on just seven points.
Ulster Rugby At Cardiff Rugby
Stockdale’s Surge
Once considered one of the brightest young stars in Europe after being named Player of the Championship in the 2018 Six Nations and scoring a legendary try in Ireland’s first home win over New Zealand that same year, Ulster’s Jacob Stockdale has mostly had brutal injury luck since then, including missing almost the entirety of the 2021-2022 URC season after an ankle injury suffered in Ulster’s season opener.
But now that the 28-year-old finally is back in form, he and Ulster are reaping the rewards.
Stockdale scored twice in the club’s win over the Ospreys last week and has 13 tries since the start of last season, and no player in the URC this season has beaten more defenders (25) or gained more meters (317) than the Northern Ireland-born winger.
Ulster can make it three wins in a row going into the international break with a win this weekend in Wales.
URC Rugby Schedule For Round 6
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Friday, Oct. 25 URC Fixtures
Saturday, Oct. 26 URC Fixtures
- Stormers vs. Glasgow - 7:45 a.m. ET
- Ospreys vs. Edinburgh - 10 a.m. ET
- Sharks vs. Munster - 10 a.m. ET
- Leinster vs. Lions - 12:15 p.m. ET
- Connacht vs. Dragons RFC - 2:35 p.m. ET
- Cardiff Rugby vs. Ulster - 2:35 p.m. ET
URC Standings Table After Round 5
- Leinster: PL 5 | W 5 | D 0 | L 0 | BP 5 | PF 161 | PA 66 | DIFF 95 | PTS 25
- Lions: PL 4 | W 4 | D 0 | L 0 | BP 2 | PF 123 | PA 71 | DIFF 52 | PTS 18
- Glasgow Warriors: PL 5 | W 3 | D 2 | L 0 | BP 4 | PF 170 | PA 97 | DIFF 73 | PTS 18
- Bulls: PL 4 | W 3 | D 1 | L 0 | BP 2 | PF 120 | PA 79 | DIFF 41 | PTS 15
- Ulster: PL 5 | W 3 | D 2 | L 0 | BP 3 | PF 131 | PA 140 | DIFF -9 | PTS 15
- Edinburgh: PL 5 | W 2 | D 3 | L 0 | BP 3 | PF 133 | PA 125 | DIFF 8 | PTS 13
- Connacht: PL 5 | W 2 | D 3 | L 0 | BP 3 | PF 132 | PA 153 | DIFF -21 | PTS 13
- Benetton: PL 5 | W 2 | D 2 | L 1 | BP 2 | PF 104 | PA 128 | DIFF -24 | PTS 12
- Cardiff Rugby: PL 5 | W 2 | D 3 | L 0 | BP 3 | PF 109 | PA 136 | DIFF -27 | PTS 12
- Scarlets: PL 5 | W 2 | D 2 | L 1 | BP 0 | PF 106 | PA 109 | DIFF -3 | PTS 11
- Munster: PL 5 | W 2 | D 3 | L 0 | BP 3 | PF 122 | PA 135 | DIFF -13 | PTS 11
- Stormers: PL 4 | W 2 | D 2 | L 0 | BP 2 | PF 101 | PA 99 | DIFF 2 | PTS 10
- Sharks: PL 4 | W 2 | D 2 | L 0 | BP 1 | PF 101 | PA 128 | DIFF -27 | PTS 10
- Dragons RFC: PL 5 | W 1 | D 4 | L 0 | BP 1 | PF 99 | PA 142 | DIFF -43 | PTS 7
- Zebre: PL 5 | W 1 | D 4 | L 0 | BP 1 | PF 76 | PA 134 | DIFF -58 | PTS 7
- Ospreys: PL 5 | W 1 | D 4 | L 0 | BP 1 | PF 89 | PA 135 | DIFF -46 | PTS 6
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