Road to the Final: URC semifinal times confirmed
The United Rugby Championship semifinals have been confirmed, with South Africa’s two remaining contenders facing daunting away trips on Saturday as the race to the Grand Final intensifies.
The action gets underway at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, where the Glasgow Warriors host the Bulls in a heavyweight clash that kicks off at 15.30 SA time.
The fixture carries significant recent history. It will be the first time the teams meet in the URC play-offs since Glasgow stunned the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in the 2023-24 final, denying the Pretoria side a maiden title on home soil.
Although Glasgow earned top seeding and home advantage, they will not be playing at their usual Scotstoun base.
With preparations for the 2026 Commonwealth Games taking over the venue, the defending champions have shifted their knockout campaign to Scotland.
Murrayfield, however, is hardly unfamiliar territory for many of Glasgow’s Scotland internationals, and Franco Smith has already spoken about making every possible advantage count as his side chase back-to-back titles.
The second semifinal sees Leinster welcome the Stormers to Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, with kick-off scheduled for 18.30 SA time.
Leinster arrive as defending URC champions and remain desperate to rescue silverware from a season that ended in disappointment on the European stage. The Irish giants suffered a heavy defeat to Bordeaux-Bègles in the Champions Cup final and now have their sights firmly set on retaining their domestic crown.
Standing in their way is a Stormers side that continues to thrive in knockout rugby. The Cape outfit became the competition’s inaugural champions in 2021-22 and are back in the semifinals for the first time since the 2022-23 campaign.
Having overcome Cardiff in the quarterfinals, John Dobson’s men now face arguably their toughest challenge of the season against a Leinster side that has rarely been beaten at home.
The scheduling of the two matches has also been carefully arranged to allow sufficient time should the first semifinal require extra time or even a place-kicking shootout to determine the winner.
