| tries = | highest attendance = 50,388 Bulls vs Glasgow Warriors (22 June 2024) | lowest attendance = 1,600 Zebre vs Ulster (21 October 2023) | top point scorer = Ben Healy (175) | top try scorer = Johnny Matthews (14) | website = unitedrugby.com | prevseason = 2022–23 | nextseason = 2024–25 }} The 2023–24 United Rugby Championship was the 23rd season of the professional rugby union competition known as the United Rugby Championship, and the third season under that name. It began on 21 October 2023 and ended on 22 June 2024. The reigning and defending champions were Munster, who defeated Stormers in the 2023 final.
Glasgow Warriors claimed the 2023–24 championship, defeating the Bulls in the grand final for their second overall championship.
Format The season consisted of 21 rounds: 18 rounds of regular season play, followed by three rounds of play-offs.
The winner of each Shield was determined solely from the games played amongst the teams within their regional pool, mirroring the format of the old Interprovincial Championship in Ireland.
There were four regional pools: The Irish Shield pool (featuring the four Irish teams), the Welsh Shield pool (featuring the four Welsh teams), the South African Shield pool (featuring the four South African teams), and the Scottish/Italian Shield pool (featuring the two Italian and two Scottish sides). The pools served two functions; they guaranteed a full slate of derby matches for each team, and they awarded a minor Regional Shield trophy to the top team in each pool, which thereby functioned as a national championship in three of the four pools and a cross-border regional championship in the Scottish–Italian pool. They were no longer used to determine qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup. Instead, the top eight teams in the league table qualified, subject to preserved places for winners of the three main trophies, the URC, the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup if they were not already qualified by league position.
The winner of each Shield was determined solely from the games played amongst the teams within their regional pool, mirroring the format of the old Interprovincial Championship in Ireland.
Teams played six matches against their regional pool rivals, three home and three away. The remaining twelve matches were made up by a single round robin, consisting of an even number of six home and six away matches against all the sides from the other pools.
For the Championship itself, there was one main league table. The top eight sides in the table qualified for the quarter-finals, followed by semi-finals and a grand final, with teams seeded 1 to 4 with home advantage for the lowest seeded side. The Regional Shield pools had no direct link to the play-offs and by extension the Championship itself, and it was possible to win a Regional Shield but not contest the play-offs.
Teams
United Rugby Championship Team Country Coach /Director of Rugby Captain Stadium Capacity Eli Snyman Stadio Comunale di Monigo Loftus Versfeld Stadium 51,762 Cardiff Arms Park 12,125 The Sportsground Rodney Parade Edinburgh Rugby StadiumMurrayfield Stadium Scotstoun Stadium RDS ArenaAviva Stadium 18,50051,700 Ellis Park Stadium 62,567 Thomond ParkMusgrave Park 25,6008,008 Swansea.com Stadium 20,827 Parc y Scarlets 14,870 Kings Park Stadium 52,000 DHL StadiumDanie Craven Stadium 55,00016,000 Ravenhill Stadium 18,196 Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi 5,000
Locations Location of Irish, Scottish and Welsh teams:Location of Italian teams:
Location of South African teams:
Regional Shield competitions
This season, for the first time, regional shield standings were based entirely on performances against other teams within the same conference. Therefore, only six games for each team counted towards the regional shields.
URC league standings
European qualification The national shields no longer factor into qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup, in order to increase meritocracy and competition within the league.
Priority order for European Champions Cup qualification is: 2023–24 United Rugby Championship champions the European Rugby Champions Cup champions (if a URC team but not already qualified as above) the EPCR Challenge Cup champions (if a URC team but not already qualified as above) the next highest-ranked teams during regular season play not already qualified as above, until eight overall qualifiers have been selected.
All 16 teams, however, are guaranteed entry into one of the two competitions.
The following teams have therefore confirmed their qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup for the 2024–25 season:
via 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup Sharks, who defeated English side Gloucester 36–22 in the final of the 2023–24 European Rugby Challenge Cup.
No URC side won a place with victory in the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup, Leinster losing in the final to Toulouse.
The following teams therefore confirmed their qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup for the 2024–25 season by placement in the URC regular season:
Munster, 1st in the regular season table Leinster, 3rd Ulster, 6th
Bulls, 2nd Stormers, 5th
Glasgow Warriors, 4th
The final Champions Cup place was therefore to be taken by either Benetton (7th) or Ospreys (8th). If Ospreys won the URC outright, they will take the final berth in the Champions Cup as URC Champion. Any other result would mean Benetton qualify for the Champions Cup in 2024–25. Osprey's quarter final defeat confirmed Benetton Rugby in the final berth. Wales will have no representative in the 2024–25 Champions Cup.
Benetton, 7th
Zebre, Dragons, Scarlets, Cardiff Rugby, Edinburgh, Connacht, Lions and Ospreys have qualified for the European Rugby Challenge Cup for 2024–25. All five nations in URC will be represented in the competition.
Matches The following are the match results for the 2023–24 United Rugby Championship regular season:
BENBULCARCONDRAEDIGLALEILIOMUNOSPSCASHASTOULSZEBBenetton 18–14 36–19 31–6 9–19 15–10 13–13 18–13 20–17 36–14Bulls 56–35 53–27 40–34 30–28 22–27 61–24 63–21 44–10 40–22 Cardiff 22–23 12–18 12–16 55–21 7–24 20–33 29–33 23–29 31–24 Connacht 34–26 22–24 14–38 22–9 34–26 26–10 12–16 22–20 54–16Dragons 10–31 9–16 27–34 17–22 10–33 20–5 13–12 21–44 20–13Edinburgh 22–24 31–23 25–22 19–14 17–16 26–29 19–15 43–18 40–14Glasgow Warriors 26–12 17–13 40–7 22–10 43–25 21–10 20–9 33–20 38–26Leinster 47–18 47–14 33–7 36–27 21–16 61–14 54–5 34–13 21–22 Lions 10–25 34–13 49–24 44–21 44–12 13–33 40–10 33–35 61–19Munster 20–15 47–12 45–14 40–29 3–9 34–21 10–3 29–24 45–29Ospreys 27–21 26–13 23–31 36–21 17–27 31–9 19–5 19–17 34–31Scarlets 16–13 31–25 32–15 3–45 23–24 7–42 11–25 27–32 20–31 Sharks 24–25 14–26 14–36 12–13 69–14 23–13 18–20 23–25 22–12 Stormers 26–20 43–21 42–12 29–24 21–27 52–7 16–15 13–7 31–7Ulster 38–34 26–19 19–17 20–19 49–26 24–27 23–21 24–17 21–14 Zebre Parma 24–31 29–54 22–22 19–24 9–40 7–31 18–32 12–10 36–40 Updated to match(es) played on 18 May 2024 Colours: Green: home team win; Yellow: draw; Red: away team win; Blue: upcoming matches
Regular season Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Knockout stage For the first time, all five participating nations are represented in the URC play-offs, following a set of results on the final day that elevated Ospreys three places in the table to take the last available berth.
Bracket
The play-off draw is seeded based on final positions in the regular season league table.
The higher-ranked teams have home advantage in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
The 2024 United Rugby Championship Final was held in South Africa for the third time in succession. The final was the second appearance of the Bulls following their defeat in 2022, and the first appearance of Glasgow Warriors who became the first Scottish team, and indeed the first team outside of South Africa and Ireland, to reach the final since the competition adopted its current format. It was also Glasgow's fourth final appearance overall in the various forms of the competition. For the third year in succession, the top-seeded team entering the playoffs failed to reach the final.
Leading scorers Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.
Most points Rank Player Club Points 1 Ben Healy Edinburgh 175 2 Johan Goosen Bulls 167 3 Tinus de Beer Cardiff 118 4 Sanele Nohamba Lions 117 5 Jack Crowley Munster 115 Jacob Umaga Benetton 7 JJ Hanrahan Connacht 111 Manie Libbok Stormers 9 John Cooney Ulster 109 10 George Horne Glasgow Warriors 89
Most tries Rank Player Club Tries 1 Johnny Matthews Glasgow 14 2 Akker van der Merwe Bulls 12 3 David Kriel Bulls 11 4 Kurt-Lee Arendse Bulls 10 5 Werner Kok Sharks 9 Canan Moodie Bulls Kyle Rowe Glasgow Warriors Jacob Stockdale Ulster 9 Mason Grady Cardiff 8 Johan Grobbelaar Bulls Francke Horn Lions Evan Roos Stormers Tom Stewart Ulster Keiran Williams Ospreys
End of Season Awards
URC Elite XV The 2023–24 United Rugby Championship Elite XV is:"URC AWARDS: Elixirr Innovation Award & Elite XV winners announced" , United Rugby, 14 June 2024.
Pos Player TeamFB 15 Warrick Gelant StormersRW 14 Jordan Larmour LeinsterOC 13 Sione Tuipulotu GlasgowIC 12 Alex Nankivell MunsterLW 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse BullsFH 10 Jack Crowley MunsterSH 9 John Cooney UlsterN8 8 Cameron Hanekom BullsOF 7 Elrigh Louw BullsBF 6 Jamie Ritchie EdinburghRL 5 Ruan Nortjé BullsTP 4 Tadhg Beirne MunsterTP 3 Wilco Louw BullsHK 2 Akker van der Merwe BullsLP 1 Ox Nche Sharks
Award winners The 2023–24 URC award winners were:
Award Winner Vodacom Player of the Season Sanele Nohamba (Lions) Players' Player of the Season Jack Crowley (Munster) Next-Gen Player of the Season Jack Crowley (Munster) Golden Boot Chris Smith (Bulls) Top Try Scorer Johnny Matthews (Glasgow Warriors) Try of the Season powered by URC.tv Aphelele Fassi (Sharks) Tackle Machine Alessandro Izekor (Benetton) Turnover King Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh) Ironman Award Shane Daly (Munster) BKT Coach of the Season Graham Rowntree (Munster) Innovation Award Benetton
Attendances This season saw a record United Rugby Championship attendance, with a 3% increase in overall attendance for a total of 1.69 million, and an average of 11,200 per game. The highest attendance for a single round was 146,000 for round 9.
Notes
References
External links