URC 2022 Thread

Could be an interesting last 20.

Stormers seem to run out of gas fairly regularly, this isn't over.

Two away teams (Connacht & Munster) win their respective QFs.

Here's hoping they win their away SFs too

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A good knuckle wrap was in order....

Ah in fairness to URC, the ban itself is pretty stiff by recent standards. I'm not sure when I last heard of someone getting a headline ban of 10 games for a high shot. And also in fairness, Jordan is entitled to his 50% remission.

Then it falls off a cliff. I presume Glasgow had some evidence that he was registered for and intending to play in the Super Sprint series but it's taking the p*ss completely.

Is there any justifiable reason the URC's end of season calendar is so squashed? Having the QF on May 7th, SF on May 14th and final on May 27th (with the ERC final on May 20th and semi on April 29th making it 5 weeks in a row of knockout rugby..) seems incredibly tight in light of Leinster's B team playing yesterday. It puts any team in the knockout stages of Europe at a huge disadvantage,

It also undoubtedly costs the league revenue in terms of less fans going to games because of the tight schedule. Leinster v Munster, in a semi-final, with good weather, would easily have sold out the Aviva if it had more than a 6 day turnaround.

The Top14 in France runs on until the final on Saturday June 17th, a full 3 extra weeks of games. Surely the URC calendar could be expanded to match this? Or at least until June 10th to give two extra weeks of fixtures to work with.

The Top14 final this year is on Saturday June 17th... Three full weeks after the URC final.

Top 14 has 8 extra league games though so their season is already fairly concentrated.

Damn Sarries murdered the Saints!

Two very important things happened in the URC's first two seasons, imo. The first was the all-SA final, and victory for Stormers last year, which gave SA fans something to celebrate and get invested into, after years of losing in Super Rugby.

Then, secondly, an SA team then secured a final this year to an Irish side. 5000 made the trip, with some reports even claiming a figure close to double that. Have that many NZ fans flown to SA for a Tri Nations game, never mind a Super Rugby game? In coldest terms, that's a decent economic injection into Cape Town's economy (each fan spens a grand while there, that's 500k-1m brought into a country where pints cost €2). In less colder terms, fans getting to interact and know each other is very much part of the European ethos that SA rugby brought into, which for economic reasons will need to be lopsided toward our fans going there. In terms of the broader sporting narrative, Munster then won, and showed these SA teams that this is still a tournament that's damn hard to win. That's how rivalries flourish.

All SA sides will now see the value of getting top spot in the log and hoping they get an Irish team (cough, Munster) in the final. They'll also see a league which is not just a real challenge, but at its highest level, is a lot closer to test rugby, and a tactical style that I think they'll appreciate.

It's hard to know for sure, but I can only imagine that SA fans (and SARU) are under no doubt that joining the URC was the right move. I can't say we'd be in the same position if the first two years had been routine wins for an Irish side (probably Leinster) in the Aviva...

It was notable that (unless I missed it) there was zero coverage of the URC final on the Guardian's rugby page

How much were they, out of interest?

So the price of 2 pints for a cheap seat or the price of 10 pints for an average expensive ticket. Equivalent to 13/14 euro for cheap seat or 66 euro for an expensive seat if translated to Irish equivalent.

So splitting the difference there, that's around €600k total revenue on the full house.

And using the pintflation guide (€2 vs €5), that equates to spending power in the Irish economy of around €1.5m.

That's why I had absolutely zero issue with the videos showing the Stormers celebrate Munster's win. At a time when English rugby looks set to lose its third club in a year to financial pressures, it was a massively important moment for an organisation that itself just barely escaped extinction.

In a shocking development, South Africa is cheaper than Dublin.

That is incorrect and you know it.

Flights are the expensive part especially at short notice. Then you need transport when there as going for a walk around the block would be unwise unless in the tourist area of v&a etc.

Also maybe noteworthy that the tweet from yer man doesn't actually say the info is incorrect

My best guess is that they are moving things around to reduce the number of trips north made by SA teams. Fewer, longer tours. Not sure how they'll figure it out if it means Heino games needing rescheduling though.