EXPLAINER: Why the SA URC teams are on an extended break

The South African United Rugby Championship (URC) sides find themselves on a three week break between their penultimate pool fixture of the season (last weekend) and their final one taking place in two weeks’ time.

This is due to the knockout phase of the European Rugby Champions Cup (ERCC), which sees the quarter-finals and semi-finals being battled out over the next two weekends.

It has been a strange first season in the URC, with SA teams experiencing gaps in their campaign, like during December and January, while other times they have avoided those gaps by being scheduled to play against each other.

Next season

However, they won’t have this problem next season as they are set to be introduced into Europe’s premier club competition, with the Sharks, Stormers and Bulls having already qualified due to their standings in the URC.

Only two URC teams are left in this season’s ERCC, with Munster hosting defending champions Toulouse and Leinster traveling to Leicester Tigers, for their quarter-finals on Saturday.

Next weekend then sees the semi-finals battled out, followed by a weekend’s break when the URC will wrap up their pool stage, before the ERCC final is contested on the last Saturday of May.

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Despite most URC sides having the next few weekends off, some teams are catching up missed games due to Covid disruptions earlier in the season, with the Welsh and Italian sides catching up a couple of games before the final weekend of pool stage action.

Cardiff play Zebre tonight, while Ospreys play Dragons on Sunday, followed by Dragons playing Cardiff next week Friday and Benetton and Zebre battling it out next Saturday.