2023–24 United Rugby Championship

The 2023–24 United Rugby Championship was the 23rd season of the professional rugby union competition known as the United Rugby Championship, and the third season under that name. It began on 21 October 2023 and ended on 22 June 2024. The reigning and defending champions were Munster, who defeated Stormers in the 2023 final.

Glasgow Warriors claimed the 2023–24 championship, defeating the Bulls in the grand final for their second overall championship.

The season consisted of 21 rounds: 18 rounds of regular season play, followed by three rounds of play-offs.

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 in Ireland.

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 Scottish/Italian Shield pool (featuring the two Italian and two Scottish sides). The pools served two functions; they guaranteed a full slate of derby matches for each team, and they awarded a minor Regional Shield trophy to the top team in each pool, which thereby functioned as a national championship in three of the four pools and a cross-border regional championship in the Scottish–Italian pool. They were no longer used to determine qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup. Instead, the top eight teams in the league table qualified, subject to preserved places for winners of the three main trophies, the URC, the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup if they were not already qualified by league position.

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 in Ireland.

Teams played six matches against their regional pool rivals, three home and three away. The remaining twelve matches were 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.

For the Championship itself, there was one main league table. The top eight sides in the table qualified 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. The Regional Shield pools had no direct link to the play-offs and by extension the Championship itself, and it was possible to win a Regional Shield but not contest the play-offs.

BullsLionsSharksStormers2023–24 United Rugby Championship (South Africa) |

This season, for the first time, 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.

The national shields no longer factor into qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup, in order to increase meritocracy and competition within the league.

Priority order for European Champions Cup qualification is:

• 2023–24 United Rugby Championship champions
• the European Rugby Champions Cup champions (if a URC team but not already qualified as above)
• the EPCR Challenge Cup 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 have been selected.

All 16 teams, however, are guaranteed entry into one of the two competitions.

The following teams have therefore confirmed their qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup for the 2024–25 season:

South Africa via 2023–24 EPCR Challenge Cup

• Sharks, who defeated English side Gloucester 36–22 in the final of the 2023–24 European Rugby Challenge Cup.

No URC side won a place with victory in the 2023–24 European Rugby Champions Cup, Leinster losing in the final to Toulouse.

The following teams therefore confirmed their qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup for the 2024–25 season by placement in the URC regular season:

Ireland

• Munster, 1st in the regular season table
• Leinster, 3rd
• Ulster, 6th

South Africa

• Bulls, 2nd
• Stormers, 5th

Scotland

• Glasgow Warriors, 4th

The final Champions Cup place was therefore to be taken by either Benetton (7th) or Ospreys (8th). If Ospreys won the URC outright, they will take the final berth in the Champions Cup as URC Champion. Any other result would mean Benetton qualify for the Champions Cup in 2024–25. Osprey's quarter final defeat confirmed Benetton Rugby in the final berth. Wales will have no representative in the 2024–25 Champions Cup.

Italy

• Benetton, 7th

Zebre, Dragons, Scarlets, Cardiff Rugby, Edinburgh, Connacht, Lions and Ospreys have qualified for the European Rugby Challenge Cup for 2024–25. All five nations in URC will be represented in the competition.

The following are the match results for the 2023–24 United Rugby Championship regular season:

Updated to match(es) played on 18 May 2024

Colours: Green: home team win; Yellow: draw; Red: away team win; Blue: upcoming matches

For the first time, all five participating nations are represented in the URC play-offs, following a set of results on the final day that elevated Ospreys three places in the table to take the last available berth.

The play-off draw is seeded based on final positions in the regular season league table.

The higher-ranked teams have home advantage in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

The 2024 United Rugby Championship Final was held in South Africa for the third time in succession. The final was the second appearance of the Bulls following their defeat in 2022, and the first appearance of Glasgow Warriors who became the first Scottish team, and indeed the first team outside of South Africa and Ireland, to reach the final since the competition adopted its current format. It was also Glasgow's fourth final appearance overall in the various forms of the competition. For the third year in succession, the top-seeded team entering the playoffs failed to reach the final.

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

The 2023–24 United Rugby Championship Elite XV is:

The 2023–24 URC award winners were:

This season saw a record United Rugby Championship attendance, with a 3% increase in overall attendance for a total of 1.69 million, and an average of 11,200 per game. The highest attendance for a single round was 146,000 for round 9.

• Official website