URC fixtures 2026/27: Leinster get tricky start but Stormers will be pleased

Leinster will have little time to ease themselves into the 2026/27 United Rugby Championship season after the fixture list handed Leo Cullen’s side a tough start to the competition.

Leinster will begin next season in the same way they did with this one, with a trip to South Africa, this time facing the Lions at Ellis Park on September 26 before travelling to Durban to take on the Hollywoodbets Sharks a week later. Their first home game does not arrive until round three against Cardiff, which will be followed by back-to-back Irish derbies against Munster and Connacht, before the competition takes a break until December.

This season’s league leaders Glasgow have a slightly kinder start on paper, though Franco Smith’s side have a gruelling away trip to Munster at Thomond Park to kick things off before hosting Ulster and Connacht in successive rounds. A trip to Benetton follows before the Warriors welcome the Lions to Scotstoun at the end of October.

The Warriors’ headline fixture of the opening half of the campaign comes on December 19, when they travel to Dublin to face Leinster in a clash of this season’s top two teams.

The Stormers, meanwhile, may feel they have been handed the softest start to the campaign despite opening the season on the road. John Dobson’s side travel to Connacht and Edinburgh in the opening two rounds, but remarkably only face one side from this season’s top eight across their first six fixtures. That meeting comes away to Connacht in the opening round.

Fixture

United Rugby Championship

Leinster

12:00

30 May 26

Lions

All Stats and Data

Outside of that, their early schedule features clashes against the Sharks, Scarlets and Ulster, giving the Cape Town side a real opportunity to build momentum before the season tightens with a visit from the Lions on December 19.

Two of the competition’s marquee clashes arrive later in the campaign. Glasgow host the Stormers at Scotstoun on March 19 in a fixture that could have major play-off implications, while Leinster welcome the Stormers to Dublin on May 8 in the penultimate round of the regular season.

Check out the full fixture list here.