The 2024–25 United Rugby Championship was the 24th season of the professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

competition currently known as the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

, the highest level domestic rugby competition in South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy. This season was the fourth season under that name, and the fourth with the current collection of teams. It began on 20 September 2024 and ended on 14 June 2025.

Glasgow Warriors The 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 beca ...

entered as the reigning champions, their second overall title, but were eliminated by

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

in the semi-finals. The first confirmed titles of the season were the four URC Regional Shields, which were won by

(Irish Shield),

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

(Welsh Shield),

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

(South African Shield) and

(Scottish-Italian Shield) respectively. Leinster's win, their fourth, extended their record within the championship for Shield wins. During the season, records were set for overall and average attendance, highest attendance for a single game and (twice) highest aggregate attendance across a round of competition. Over 1.8 million fans attended United Rugby Championship matches during the season. For the first time since the current format was commenced in 2021–22, the top two seeds from the regular season standings,

and Pretoria's

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine * Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding *Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

reached the United Rugby Championship Final, on 14 June in

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. It was also the first final in the most recent format held outside South Africa.

defeated the

32–7 in the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

to win their ninth overall title.

Format

The 2024–25 season once again consisted of 21 rounds: 18 rounds of regular season play, followed by three rounds of play-offs. The competition ran from 20 September 2024 to 14 June 2025, with the regular season ending in mid May. The season also contained breaks for the 2024 end-of year internationals, the 2025 Men's Six Nations (though matches are played during 'fallow' weekends) and the various matchdays of the

2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup The 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the 2024–25 Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Profession ...

and

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

. The season did not overlap with the summer internationals. Some South African teams played derby matches throughout the Men's Six Nations window, as this is a competition in which the South Africa national team are not involved. 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 shared Italian–Scottish Shield pool (featuring the two Italian and two Scottish sides). The pools served two functions; they guaranteed a full slate of home-and-away derby matches for each team (which are often the best attended and most remunerative fixtures for the clubs involved), and they awarded a minor Regional Shield trophy to the top team in each pool, which thereby functioned as a ''de facto'' national championship in three of the four pools, and a cross-border regional championship in the Scottish–Italian pool. 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 The GAA Interprovincial Championship () or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster GAA teams are com ...

in Ireland. Teams therefore played six matches against their regional pool rivals, in a home and away double round-robin. The remaining twelve matches were made up of a full single round robin of the remaining teams, consisting of an even number of six home and six away matches against all the sides from the other pools, with home advantage alternating each year. Generally each team played two of the teams in each of the other pools at home, and two away, with the matches of European teams away to South African teams usually held back to back as an eight-day 'mini-tour' to reduce travel. Each South Africa team played six away fixtures in Europe, again usually constructed around mini-tours of two or three matches. In Scotland, the two pool games involving both Scottish sides, played back to back over the Christmas and New Year period, also decided the

1872 Cup The 1872 Cup – also known as the 1872 Challenge Cup – is a men's rugby union tournament contested every year between the two Scottish professional clubs, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby. Under the current format, Glasgow Warriors and Ed ...

, effectively a Scottish national professional championship. The two Italian sides have no individual trophy to play for. For the Championship itself, there was one main league table. The top eight sides in that table at the end of the regular season qualified for the play-offs quarter-finals, followed by semi-finals and a grand final. The playoffs were seeded, with the top four seeds having home advantage at the quarter-final stage. In the semi-finals and final, the better ranked club in each tie had home advantage. The Regional Shield pools had no direct link to the play-offs and by extension the Championship itself, and it was technically possible to win a Regional Shield but not contest the play-offs.

Teams

United Rugby Championship

Locations

Administration of
Cardiff Rugby Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

On 9 April 2025, the legal entity behind the

Cardiff Rugby Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

team was briefly placed into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

, after promised private funding did not materialise. The

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...

took over the running of the club on the same day, and bought the club's legal entity out of administration the day after, ensuring it continued as a going concern. Unlike the Gallagher Premiership, an administration event does not automatically lead to the punishment or expulsion of a club, and the Welsh union announced that they would seek new private owners for Cardiff forthwith. In 2017, the Welsh union had taken over the

Dragons RFC Dragons RFC () are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup/ European Rugby Challenge Cup. They play their home games at Rodney Parade, ...

team, but avoided administration, returning the club fully to private ownership six years later. The South African side

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 w ...

had been the last team to fall into administration, entering

voluntary administration As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry on ...

in September 2020; the team left the league and was wound up shortly afterwards by choice of the

South African Rugby Union The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board ...

Regional Shield competitions

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.

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby () is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Leinster Branch, one of t ...

became the first team to win their regional shield for the season, in their case the Irish Shield, their fourth from four since the format was introduced. On 9 March 2024, the

confirmed their first South African Shield. On 19 April 2025, at the Judgement Day fixture,

sealed the Welsh Shield title with a 34–18 victory against Ospreys while

sealed their third Scottish-Italian Shield with a 14–6 victory over

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 the ...

. ''Final standings:''

URC league standings

European qualification

Priority order for 2025–26

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec 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 pr ...

qualification was as follows: * 2024–25 United Rugby Championship champions * the

champions (if a URC team but not already qualified as above) * the

2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup The 2024–25 EPCR Challenge Cup, known colloquially as the 2024-25 European Challenge Cupwas the eleventh edition of the EPCR Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs competing in elite European compe ...

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 had been selected. As a result of the priority order, the top five teams in the regular season standings were guaranteed qualification to the Champions Cup. The remaining three places would have depended on the winners of the three main competitions involving URC teams, followed if necessary by the teams finishing sixth to eighth in the regular URC standings, but as no URC teams reached the final of either European competition, the qualifiers were simply the top 8 teams in the URC. The eight remaining teams automatically qualify for the 2025–26 EPRC Challenge Cup. Leinster became the first side to guarantee qualification to the Champions Cup when they guaranteed themselves a top five finish in Round 14; at that point, their lead over sixth placed Ulster, 25 points with 20 to play for, became unassailable. In Round 15, Glasgow also assured themselves of Champions Cup rugby in 2025–26. As Leinster were the only remaining URC team that could win the Champions Cup, and they were already assured qualification, the sixth place finisher became assured of top-tier European rugby after the European Champions Cup quarter final. In Round 16, Bulls and Sharks, from South Africa, guaranteed themselves a top six finish, and Champions Cup rugby in 2025–26. With the elimination of the final URC team,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, from the Challenge Cup, it was confirmed that all eight quarterfinalists for the United Rugby Championship will also qualify for the European Rugby Champions Cup in 2025–26. On 16 May, with five matches left in the final round of games, defeats for

and

Benetton Rugby Benetton Rugby, also known as Benetton Treviso ( or ), is an Italian professional rugby union team based in Treviso, Veneto which competes in the United Rugby Championship, the European Rugby Challenge Cup and European Rugby Champions Cup, Europ ...

confirmed the final four European Rugby Champions Cup qualifiers for 2025–26 as

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) and the academic team 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 tra ...

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

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 in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

. 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 i ...

qualifiers for 2025–26 are therefore

, Ospreys,

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

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

, Benetton and

Matches

The following are the match results for the 2024–25 United Rugby Championship regular season: 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

The top eight teams in the regular season standings advanced to the knockout stage, a single-elimination tournament culminating in a Grand Final to crown the overall champion. Teams were seeded based on the regular season standings, with teams ranked 1-4 receiving home field advantage in the quarter-final, with 1 playing 8, 2 playing 7 etc. The top two teams in the standings were seeded so as not to meet until the Grand Final. The four home quarter finalists were confirmed as

and

in Round 17 when Sharks defeated Ospreys 29-10. With a 76–5 victory over

, Leinster Rugby confirmed their number one seeding for a third year out of four, and home field advantage for the duration of their campaign in the play-offs. Home field advantage for the semi-finals and Grand Final was awarded to the highest ranked team in each tie; the top two teams were therefore guaranteed home advantage until the final for as long as they remain in the tournament, and the top ranked team in the standings were awarded home advantage should they reach the Grand Final. In three seasons of the URC, no number one ranked team from the regular season had yet made the Grand Final, and of the three finals, two have been won by the visiting team. This season, however, for the first time since becoming the United Rugby Championship, the top seed, Leinster, succeeded in reaching the final where they would face the second seed, Bulls as the quarter- and semi-finals of the competition exactly followed the seeding. This also meant the first URC Grand Final to be held outside South Africa.

Bracket

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

URC Grand Final

For the first time since it became the United Rugby Championship, the highest seeded team made the final, and faced the second seed, as all six knockout matches were won by the team with home advantage.

hosted the

, the first URC final to be held outside

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and the first appearance of Leinster in a final since the format began. Bulls reached a record third final. Both teams needed their first URC title, although it would be Leinster's ninth total championship in all formats of the competition. and their twelfth play-off Grand Final. This final was the first between the two teams. In their previous meeting this season, in

Round 13 ''Round 13'' is the thirteenth studio album by the Swiss hard rock band Krokus, and the only album to feature Welsh vocalist Carl Sentance, formerly of Persian Risk and the Geezer Butler Band. It includes a cover of "Heya" by J. J. Light (a.k. ...

, Bulls inflicted the first defeat of the season across all competitions on Leinster, 21-20 in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

. In all previous URC meetings going back to 2021, Bulls lead Leinster four wins to two, including both previous play-off meetings. In the final, Leinster proved much too strong for the Bulls in wet conditions, racing to a 19-0 lead at half time. A Bulls try early in the second half briefly raised hopes of a comeback, but Leinster saw out a dominant win with a further try and two penalties, confirming a 32–7 win for their nineth championship in total. The Bulls were consigned to a third URC final defeat in four years.

2024-25 URC Awards

In June 2025, the league announced its award winners for the year. The most prestigious award, the Player's Player of the Year, was won by RG Snyman of

= URC 'Elite XV' Team of the Year

= The League announced its 'Elite XV' team of the year in June 2025.

and

were the most represented teams, with three players each in the XV.

Leading scorers

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

World Rugby World Rugby is the 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 competit ...

eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities. Includes post season points scored. ''As of 7 June 2025''

Most points

Most tries

Attendances

Attendances by club

;Regular season ; Play-offs

Highest attendances

By Round The all-time attendance record for a single round was broken in round 8, and then again in round 9 with a total attendance of 153,398 and 160,780 respectively. ; Individual matches

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:United Rugby Championship

2024-25 A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

2024–25 in Irish rugby union 2024–25 in Italian rugby union 2024–25 in Scottish rugby union 2024–25 in Welsh rugby union 2024 in South African rugby union 2025 in South African rugby union 2024–25 rugby union tournaments for clubs