The BKT United Rugby Championship is about the clash of the Titans. It is about rivalries as much as it is about friendships. The BKT URC is not just a rugby league but an arena that screams ‘fight night’.

It is about players fighting for the right to win and fighting to be number one. It is about players fighting to avenge results and fighting to create new results. It is about player values and the value of every contest.

The fight is that which comes from the heart of the players and speaks to the soul of the millions of supporters.

The BKT URC is about rivalries, about diversity and inclusivity. It is about respect and reverence.

This is a league featuring the world’s best players and it is a league that makes many champions but each season crowns only one.

It is about the northern hemisphere versus the southern hemisphere. Old versus new.  151 matches played by 16 clubs across five territories.

Journey with us from Cardiff to Cape Town, from Parma to Edinburgh and from Galway to Kwazulu-Natal. Every club has a story to tell and each of the cities is a glorious weekend away.

The rugby will be spectacular, and the spectator experience will be just as good.

Whether it is Dublin or Durban, Glasgow or Johannesburg, Belfast or Swansea, the BKT United Rugby Championship  is about the occasion, and it is about you the supporter.

Everyone is welcome. Everyone is respected. Everyone is the collective heartbeat of the BKT United Rugby Championship. United We Rise.

The 2022/23 season broke every league record, in viewership, attendance and social media numbers. The 2023/24 season will again be record-breaking.

Watch as players write a new chapter of BKT URC history and new heroes are born.

In Round 1, last year’s beaten semi-finalists and eight-time league winners Leinster travel to Glasgow and the defending champions Munster host South Africa’s Hollywoodbets Sharks.

Zebre Parma’s campaign starts at home in Italy when UIster visit Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, the DHL Stormers are away to the Emirates Lions in an all-South African derby and the Vodacom Bulls entertain Wales’s Scarlets.

Ireland’s Connacht welcome the Ospreys, and in Wales it is Cardiff Rugby against Italy’s premier club Benetton and the Dragons RFC who welcome Edinburgh to Rodney Parade.

It will be full-on from the 21st and 22nd October with six Saturday showdowns and two Sunday sizzlers, played in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and South Africa.

Bank those dates and bring fire in your belly and friendship in your heart and Unite our game with your passion.

See you at kick-off.

Fixtures

ROUND 1

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21 Zebre Parma v Ulster Stadio Lanfranchi, Parma – KO 13.00 IRE & UK / 14.00 ITA & SA Live on: Sky Italia, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Sports & URC.tv Connacht v Ospreys The Sportsground, Galway – KO 15.00 IRE & UK / 16.00 ITA & SA Live on: TG4, S4C, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Sports & URC.tv Emirates Lions v DHL Stormers Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg – KO 15.05 IRE & UK / 16.05 ITA & SA Live on: SuperSport, Viaplay, Premier Sports, Flo Sports & URC.tv Dragons RFC v Edinburgh Rugby Rodney Parade, Newport – KO 15.05 IRE & UK / 16.05 ITA & SA Live on: Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Sports & URC.tv Cardiff Rugby v Benetton Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff – KO 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA & SA Live on: S4C, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Sports & URC.tv Munster v Hollywoodbets Sharks Thomond Park, Limerick – KO 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA & SA Live on: TG4, SuperSport, Viaplay, Premier Sports, Flo Sports & URC.tv SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22 Vodacom Bulls v Scarlets Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria – KO 14.00 IRE & UK / 15.00 ITA & SA Live on: SuperSport, BBC Wales, Viaplay, Premier Sports, Flo Sports & URC.tv Glasgow Warriors v Leinster Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow – KO 16.00 IRE & UK / 17.00 ITA & SA Live on: Viaplay, RTÉ, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Sports & URC.tv