Five talking points ahead of the new URC season

A new BKT United Rugby Championship season is upon us, with all four Irish provinces in action on Saturday.

Can the Irish sides respond after last season's disappointing finish? We take a look at some of the big talking points ahead of the new campaign…

Derby deluge

All four Irish provinces enter this season with a point to prove – and could end up taking the frustrations of the previous campaign out on each other.

The first half of the URC season is crammed with interprovincial derbies, with all four provinces playing each other in the opening seven rounds.

Throw an Emerging Ireland tour into the mix and squads could be severely stretched towards the end of the first block of fixtures.

Leinster won six of their first seven fixtures last season, with an average winning margin of 24 points, but things are unlikely to be as routine this time.

With the South African teams minus their Springboks, the field has levelled out and there could be little separating the leading sides in the standings come the end of the year.

International exposure

The upcoming Emerging Ireland tour will cause disruption among the provinces and it could mean an earlier than usual return to club colours for some Ireland players.

Less than nine weeks have passed since Ireland’s series-clinching victory over New Zealand in Wellington and while the majority of those players are back in training with their respective provinces, it would normally be mid-to-late October before they would normally see competitive action.

However, with Simon Easterby taking a 35-man Emerging Ireland squad to South Africa, and a host of attritional derbies on the agenda, some international players could well find themselves called into action before the end of the month.

Johnny Sexton