URC storylines: Springboks front row battle, Leinster and Glasgow to set the pace while Munster wait

The final round of the United Rugby Championship (URC) is upon us in what promises to be a rip-roaring finish to the regular season.

As teams contest for final finishing positions, here are our seven storylines to follow this weekend.

Glasgow and Leinster to set the pace

Third-place Glasgow Warriors and fourth-place Leinster are both in action on Friday evening in their final URC regular season matches of 2023/24.

Glasgow will be confident at home as they host Zebre, who have won one and drawn one game losing their other 15 fixtures this season. The Warriors have already secured a home quarter-final in the URC but will fancy their chances of claiming a full house of five points against the Italians which could see them head into Saturday’s games on top of the table.

The same is true for Leinster, who have a more difficult task as they host Inter Pro rivals Connacht at the RDS Arena. Leo Cullen’s charges will be hellbent on laying down a marker after their Investec Champions Cup defeat, but they will face a Connacht outfit with the slimmest chances to progress.

Connacht needs to claim a full five points from the fixture and hope that Ospreys and the Lions claim less than two log points from their matches, plus Benetton gets no more than two points from their match or that Edinburgh gets none.

Still, Leinster and Glasgow can set the tone for the final day of action on Saturday with bonus-point wins putting all the pressure on Munster in first and the Bulls in second.

Leinster fly-half roulette

For the third week in a row, Leinster will line up with a different number 10 as Sam Prendergast gets the nod to start the clash against Connacht, who he could well be representing next season. Meanwhile, Ciaran Frawley – who finished the Champions Cup final in the role – starts alongside him in the number 12 jumper.

Frawley is an incredibly versatile backline player, but one has to question whether the constant rotation will come back to bite Leinster in the URC play-offs. If Ross Byrne is not fit for the knockout stages, would it not have been more beneficial for Harry Byrne or Frawley to start at number 10 this week? Hindsight is certainly 20-20, but even beforehand, this looks questionable.

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Lions’ slim chances against mighty Stormers

The Lions head to one of the toughest home grounds in the URC on Saturday when they tackle the Stormers at the DHL Stadium, knowing that they need to win to stay alive.

Champions Cup qualification is possible with a bonus-point win as they could finish as high as sixth, depending on other results.

But standing in their way is a Stormers side that will be eager to hand onto fifth place at the very least, as it may well be beneficial and result in a home play-off further down the line.

The Lions have upset the odds many times this season. Do they have one more shock result left in them before the knockouts or is this it for the Jo’burgers?

Champions Cup awaits Edinburgh or Benetton

It’s a straight shootout in the Scottish capital on Saturday as Edinburgh and Benetton battle it out for a spot in the quarter-finals and even a place in next season’s Champions Cup.

Edinburgh hold the advantage currently, having won more matches than their Italian counterparts, with the teams deadlocked on 49 points.

It sets the stages from what promises to be a mighty battle between the two sides who will know that the Lions are chomping at the bit to surpass them.

Springboks incumbents v prospects front row battle

After winning the Challenge Cup final last week, many expected the Sharks to field a largely changed side in their final URC match of the season against the Bulls. However, that is not the case, as John Plumtree’s side aims to finish their disappointing URC campaign on a high, making just three alternations to the team that comfortably swept Gloucester aside.

Still, Jake White will be pleased that his team won’t get complacent and will be raring to go against the Sharks, who have named an all-Springboks front-row to test the Bulls.

Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Vincent Koch all shone last year for the Springboks at the World Cup and were pivotal to the Sharks’ success against Gloucester. The trio are bound to be involved with the Springboks again this year while the Bulls’ trio are very much on the fringe of the Bok squad.

Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw attended the Springbok alignment camps recently, with the two props having already been capped internationally. Saturday’s clash provides them with a stunning opportunity to not only fire the Bulls into a home play-off run but also strengthen their Springbok claims against the incumbents.

There are many battlegrounds to look forward to in Durban, but the old adage of the game being won upfront will undoubtedly be true again.

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Warren Gatland’s Judgement Day

Usually, one of the most hotly anticipated dates on the Welsh rugby calendar has a somewhat sombre feeling this season as the four regions limp to the end of their campaigns and bid farewell to their longlist of departees.

Mathematically, the Ospreys have a chance of making the quarter-finals, but they will rely heavily on results elsewhere and require something shy of a miracle before having to knock over Cardiff with a bonus-point victory. On a positive note, they will know where they stand before the first whistle at the Cardiff City Stadium as all the permutations regarding their quarter-final qualification will have played out by then.

Still, the Judgement Day fixtures now turn into something of a Wales trial for the upcoming tour to Australia, with Warren Gatland bound to be in attendance for both Scarlets v Dragons and Cardiff v Ospreys.

Munster primed to finish top and seal a home play-off charge

Graham Rowntree and co. will be closely monitoring the proceedings in Durban ahead of their final regular-season match against Ulster.

They will also have the luxury/pressure of knowing precisely what is required of them to seal the top spot and a clear home run to the final.

The defending champions were on the road for all of their play-off matches last season and will be eager to replicate that form this time in front of a cheering home crowd.

A win of any kind of win will seal the top seed for Munster as they head into the final round of action with a two-point buffer but do face an Ulster outfit that has a shot at fifth and is in need of at least two points to secure Champions Cup rugby next season.

It’s all set up for an enthralling close to the regular season.

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