United Rugby Championship Round 1: All you need to know

After a season of surprises in the debut campaign of the BTK United Rugby Championship, the familiarity of teams in the 2022/23 season adds a new layer of excitement.

Twelve months ago, we didn't know what we were going to get from the South African sides, our research limited to the Currie Cup and some facile games against the British and Irish Lions.

Aside from their Springbok stars, the casual fan knew very little about the wider squads of the Bulls, Stormers, Lions and Sharks. We didn't know how they would look when they came up north and we didn't know how everyone else would fare when they went down south.

But after a slow start, the 2021/22 season showed that the South Africans are the real deal, the Bulls and Stormers breaking up the Irish dominance, and the Western Province side eventually becoming the first URC champions.

The new season has been front-loaded with derbies, with almost every round between now and the new year containing at least one Interpro clash.

From an Irish point of view, that's providing a tough start, in particular for Connacht who begin with an away trip to Ulster, before travelling to face the Bulls and Stormers, and returning to two more derbies against Munster and Leinster.

But if the Irish sides can reach the new year in respectable fettle, an easier run of games could provide them an opportunity to gain some real momentum down the stretch, just as the Bulls, Stormers and Sharks did themselves last year.

The meeting of Ulster and Connacht is the big game of the weekend, while Leinster and Munster are both on the road. Munster have the first of two trips to Wales in consecutive weeks when they face Cardiff at the Arms Park on Saturday, while Leinster begin the day in Italy taking on Zebre