United Rugby Championship

Badge

Poster

Established
2001 (24 years old)

First Recorded Event
2008-09-05

Current Season
2025-2026

Sport
Sport Icon

Rugby

Location
Worldwide

Gender
Male

TV Rights
US - ESPN [2018-2021]
Asia - Premier Sports [2020-present]
Germany - DAZN [2018-present]
Ireland - RTÉ Sport [2021-present]
Ireland - TG4 [2010-present]
Ireland - URC TV [2021-present]
Ireland - Premier Sports [2021-present]
Italy - Sky Sport [2023-present]
Latin America - Star+ [2022-present]
New Zealand - TVNZ [2023-present]
Northern Ireland - BBC [2021-present]
Rest of World - URC TV [2021–present]
South Africa - SuperSport [2017-present]
UK - Premier Sports [2018-present]
USA - FloSports [2022-present]
Wales - BBC [2021-present]
Wales - S4C [2001-present]

Logo

Upcoming
26 Sep	Stormers	5:00pm	Leinster
26 Sep	Glasgow	7:05pm	The Shark
26 Sep	Ulster	7:05pm	Dragons
27 Sep	Zebre	2:05pm	Edinburgh
27 Sep	Scarlets	4:30pm	Munster
27 Sep	Connacht	6:45pm	Benetton
27 Sep	Bulls	12:00pm	Ospreys
27 Sep	Cardiff R	6:45pm	Lions
03 Oct	Stormers	5:00pm	Ospreys
03 Oct	Connacht	7:05pm	Scarlets
Results
14 Jun	Leinster	19 - 0	Bulls Sup
07 Jun	Bulls Sup	25 - 13	The Shark
07 Jun	Leinster	37 - 19	Glasgow
31 May	The Shark	25 - 24	Munster
31 May	Leinster	33 - 21	Scarlets
31 May	Bulls Sup	42 - 33	Edinburgh
30 May	Glasgow	36 - 18	Stormers
17 May	Leinster	13 - 5	Glasgow
17 May	The Shark	12 - 3	Scarlets
17 May	Zebre	12 - 22	Connacht

Description

The United Rugby Championship is an annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales. The league is one of the three major professional leagues in Europe (along with the English Premiership and the French Top 14), the most successful European teams from which go forward to compete in the European Rugby Champions Cup, the pan-European championship which replaced the Heineken Cup after the 2013–14 season.

Beginning with the creation of the Welsh–Scottish League in 1999, the league would become known as the Celtic League when it grew to include teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The league was sponsored by Irish cider makers Magners from the 2006–07 season until 2010–11. At the start of the 2010–11 season, the league expanded from 10 to 12 teams, adding two Italian teams. Following the end of Magners' sponsorship, the league was sponsored by RaboDirect from 2011–12 through to 2013–14. The Pro12 name was adopted in 2011 to reflect that the league now included teams from outside the Celtic nations. A further expansion to 14 teams took place from the 2017–18 season, with two South African teams joining the Championship. The current sponsorship deal with Guinness commenced at the beginning of the 2014–15 season.

Seasons