The 2021–22 United Rugby Championship was the twenty-first season of the professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

competition originally known as the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

. It was the first season that the competition is referred to as the United Rugby Championship, having previously been known as the Pro14. Sixteen teams competed in this season – four Irish teams:

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

; two Italian teams: Benetton and

Zebre Parma Zebre Parma (, meaning " Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by t ...

; two Scottish teams:

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

(with Scottish and Italian teams in a shared regional pool); four South African teams: Bulls,

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

and

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a trans-hemispheric competition that also ...

; and four Welsh teams:

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

, Ospreys and

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

. It is the first season in which URC Regional Shields (Irish, Welsh, South African and Scottish-Italian) will be awarded as separate trophies to the leading sides in each nation or region.

Format

The tournament consisted of 18 rounds. There are 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 'Azzurri/Blue' Shield pool (featuring the two Italian and two Scottish sides). Teams play six matches against their regional pool rivals home and away. The remaining twelve matches are 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. There is only one main league table (the conference system used in previous Pro14 years has been dropped). The top eight sides in the table will qualify 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. A total of eight sides qualified for the following season's

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

, while the remaining eight sides will play in the

EPCR Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

. All points won in the competition contributed to rankings in the regional pools, with the top side in each regional pool automatically qualifying for the European Rugby Champions Cup. The remaining four places went then go to the highest ranked teams in the main table (who haven't already qualified). A similar format was used to determine playoff contenders in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

competition. This will see the South African sides in the competition qualifying for a European competition for the first time (subject to finalisation of contract terms), as previous South African participants – the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

and

Southern Kings The Southern Kings were a South African professional rugby union team that competed in Super Rugby and Pro14. They were based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province and played their home matches at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. They wer ...

– were ineligible for European competitions.

Teams

United Rugby Championship

Locations

Tables

URC – Regional Shields Pools Tables

The Regional Shield pools of the regular season are the primary mechanism by which teams qualify for European competition, with the 'Shield winner' of each regional pool guaranteed qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup, ensuring at least one South African, one Welsh and one Irish side qualify for the premier European competition. As Scotland and Italy are sharing a single regional pool, at least one team from those two countries combined is also guaranteed entry, but neither country individually is so guaranteed. The remaining four places will be awarded to those with the four best overall regular season records, regardless of which pool they take part in. As such, it is possible that a team will qualify for the ERCC without reaching the URC play-offs by topping its pool, but finishing ninth or lower overall; conversely, it is also possible that a team could win the entire URC championship from seventh or eighth seed in the overall championship table, but fail to qualify for the ERCC because teams below them topped their respective pools. Since each pool has only four teams, this means in effect that the top 6 in the overall table are guaranteed entry into the Champions Cup, with the final two places dependent on the placement of the two lowest ranked pool shield winners.

United Rugby Championship table

The overall United Rugby Championship table is the central pillar of the regular season, and the mechanism by which the teams qualifying for the Championship play-off bracket are decided. The top eight teams in the table at the end of the regular season, regardless of regional pool, qualify for the play-off quarter-finals, seeded in the order they finished the regular season. The overall table also provides the secondary path to qualification for the

, with the four highest-ranked teams not already qualified as Shield winners gaining qualification.

Regular season

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Round 6

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Round 7

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Round 8

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Round 9

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Round 10

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Round 11

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Round 12

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Round 13

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Round 14

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Round 15

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Round 16

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Round 17

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Round 18

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Play-offs

The play-off draw was seeded by final finishing position in the regular season table

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Championship final

The first United Rugby Championship Final was an all-South African derby, ensuring the first ever South African winner of the tournament, the Bulls having narrowly missed out on winning the transitional

Pro14 Rainbow Cup The Pro14 Rainbow Cup (also known as the Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a professional rugby union end-of-season cup competition played in 2021 that consisted of two separate tournaments: the Rainbow Cup for twelve Europe ...

competition. It also marked the first time in the history of the competition that a Grand final play-off match has not included at least one Irish province, a run of 14 finals.

Attendances by club

Highest attendances

End of Season Awards

URC Dream Team

The 2021–22 United Rugby Championship Dream team is:

Award winners

The 2021–22 URC award winners were:

Leading scorers

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

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

Most tries

Referees

The following referees have officiated at least one match during the 2021–22 season. Numbers in brackets denote the number of matches officiated during 2021–22. Correct as on fixtures played on 18 June 2022. *

Andrew Brace Andrew Brace is a rugby union referee and former player. Born in Cardiff, Wales, Brace represents the Irish Rugby Football Union as a referee, and was an international player for Belgium. He has refereed matches in the Pro14, the European Rugby C ...

(14) *

Frank Murphy William Francis Murphy (April 13, 1890July 19, 1949) was an American politician, lawyer and jurist from Michigan. He was a Democrat who was named to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1940 after a political career that included serving ...

(14) *

Chris Busby Chris Busby may refer to: * Christopher Busby, British scientist * Chris Busby (referee) {{hndis, Busby, Chris ...

(13) * Craig Evans (11) *

Sam Grove-White Sam Grove-White (born 29 April 1992) is a professional rugby union referee who represents the Scottish Rugby Union. Rugby playing career Grove-White began playing rugby with Montrose minis and then Angus Colts. However when he was at university ...

(10) * Adam Jones (10) *

Andrea Piardi Andrea Piardi (born 1992 in Brescia) is an Italian rugby referee. Career Piardi was born in Brescia in 1992. Having previously refereed in the Italian Top12, he made his Pro14 refereeing debut in a match between and the on 15 February 2019. I ...

(10) *

Ben Whitehouse Ben Whitehouse (born 9 August 1990) is a Welsh rugby union referee. He is currently one of five professional referees at the Welsh Rugby Union, alongside Craig Evans and Adam Jones. Career Whitehouse started refereeing at the age of 19, during ...

(10) *

Ben Blain Ben Blain (born 16 September 1988) is a professional rugby union referee who represents the Scottish Rugby Union. Rugby union career Playing career Amateur career Blain played with Carlisle RFC as a scrum-half. Referee career Professional ...

(9) * Mike Adamson (8) * Gianluca Gnecchi (7) *

Jaco Peyper Jaco Peyper is a South African Rugby Union referee. Peyper rose through the ranks in South Africa quickly, making his Super Rugby debut in 2008 while still in his 20s. In 2011 he was named as an official for the 2011 IRB Junior World Champions ...

(7) *

Marius van der Westhuizen Marius van der Westhuizen (born 6 January 1984) is a South African professional rugby union referee, currently on the Premier Panel of the South African Rugby Referees' Association. He is well known for his dominant match involvement and for ensu ...

(7) * AJ Jacobs (5) *

Hollie Davidson Hollie Davidson is a professional rugby union referee who is contracted with the Scottish Rugby Union. Playing career Davidson began playing competitive rugby when she was 14. She played at scrum-half for Murrayfield Wanderers, one of the mo ...

(3) *

Nika Amashukeli Nika Amashukeli ( ka, ნიკა ამაშუკელი) is a Georgian rugby union and World Rugby elite referee. Background In his early youth Nika Amashukeli played soccer. Nika watched his first ever full rugby match on TV during the 2 ...

(2) *

Aimee Barrett-Theron Aimee Patricia Barrett-Theron (born 27 June 1987) is a South African rugby union former player, and currently a referee on South Africa's Premier Panel. Playing career She could play as a fullback, centre or fly-half and played in various fo ...

(2) *

Rasta Rasivhenge Fhatuwani 'Rasta' Rasivhenge (born in Johannesburg on 3 January 1986) is a South African rugby union referee who is a member of the South African Rugby Union (SARU) Premier Panel. He was appointed to referee the final of the rugby sevens tourname ...

(2) *

Nic Berry Nic Berry (born 13 March 1984 in Brisbane) is an Australian rugby union referee. He took up refereeing after retiring from playing in 2012 due to a series of concussions. After taking up the whistle, he has become one of the few former Super R ...

(1) *

Pierre Brousset Pierre Brousset (born 15 January 1989) is a French rugby referee. Career Brousset began as a semi-professional referee in 2014 and has been refereeing in the French Top 14 since the 2016–17 Top 14 season. He has been a regular referee in th ...

(1) *

Eoghan Cross Eoghan Cross is an Irish rugby referee. He is a member of Ireland's referee High Performance Panel. Career Cross, born in Limerick, has been refereeing since 2016, being named Munster Rugby Referee of the year in 2020. He made his debut refere ...

(1) *

Joy Neville Joy Neville (born on 24 July 1983) is a former Ireland women's rugby union international and a current rugby union referee. As a player, Neville represented Ireland at both the 2006 and 2010 Women's Rugby World Cups. In 2009 Neville captaine ...

(1) * Gareth Newman (1) *

Christophe Ridley Christophe Ridley (born 16 April 1993) is an English rugby referee. Career Previously a student at the University of Gloucestershire, Ridley began refereeing professionally in 2016. He has been a regular referee in Premiership Rugby and has al ...

(1) *

Tual Trainini Tual Trainini (born 11 June 1985) is a French rugby referee. Career Trainini has been officiating professionally since 2011 and has been refereeing in the French Top 14 since the 2015–16 Top 14 season. He has been a regular referee in the E ...

(1)

References

Notes

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:United Rugby Championship 2021–22 in European rugby union leagues 2021-22 2021–22 in Irish rugby union 2021–22 in Italian rugby union 2021–22 in Scottish rugby union 2021–22 in Welsh rugby union 2021 in South African rugby union 2022 in South African rugby union