The race for the URC play-offs is intensifying as Munster, Cardiff, Ulster, and Connacht vie for positions. With only two rounds left in the regular season, crucial seedings and home advantages are still undecided.
Key points
The race for the URC play-offs is intensifying.
Munster, Cardiff, Ulster, and Connacht are in contention.
Two rounds remain in the regular season.
Seedings and home advantage are still undecided.
MunsterCardiffUlsterConnacht
Munster's Ben O’Donovan, Cardiff's Josh Adams, Ulster's Iain Henderson and Connacht's Bundee Aki
Munster, Cardiff, Ulster and Connacht are in contention for the URC play-offs [Getty Images]
After seven months of league action, the race for the United Rugby Championship (URC) play-offs is going down to the wire.
After a break for European semi-finals, the URC returns for the final two rounds of the regular season with plenty still to be decided.
The tussle for seedings in the top four - and home advantage in the quarter-finals - is tight but not as tense as who finishes in the top eight.
Cardiff missed out by a point last season after Lions were pipped by Ospreys on games won a year earlier.
BBC Sport looks at what is at stake in the final games and how other results could impact Champions Cup qualification.
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Sione Tuipulotu carries the ball for Glasgow against Stormers
Glasgow beat Stormers in the 2025 play-off quarter-finals [Rex Features]
First place is of huge value given that it will mean home advantage throughout the play-offs, including the Grand Final on Saturday, 20 June.
Stormers and Glasgow have secured play-off places, though the South Africans suffered a surprise home defeat by Connacht in round 15.
Both teams face the same opposition in the final weeks against Cardiff and Ulster, who are also chasing play-off spots.
Defending champions Leinster and Lions can also secure home advantage in the quarter-finals and meet in Dublin on Saturday, 9 May.
Munster are chasing hard while seventh-placed Bulls look threatening.
Who will miss out?
Lions and Leinster have one foot in the play-offs so it appears five clubs are chasing the final four spots.
The Irish trio of Munster, Ulster and Connacht as well as Cardiff and Bulls - who have lost three of the last four finals - are battling for those places.
Connacht stunned Stormers in Cape Town but are three points off the pack and defeat by Munster this weekend could end their bid if other results also go against them.
"This one has got real significance because of the league position. We are fighting for every point," said head coach Stuart Lancaster.
"Every team above us is playing meaningful games where they can take points off each other, so there's a lot to play for."
Connacht celebrate beating Stormers
Connacht won the Pro12 in 2016 but have missed out on play-off places for the past two seasons [Getty Images]
Munster would be nervously looking over their shoulder if they lose in Galway, with a final fixture against Lions.
Nonetheless, Gavin Coombes remains confident in the bid to repeat their 2023 title triumph.
"We're so tight and connected as a group that belief inside this building is huge," said the back-row forward.
Cardiff aim to ensure Welsh interest in the knock-outs and are fuelled by narrowly missing out to rivals Scarlets last season, but face the top two sides in the final weeks.
"It's really tough to do all the calculations about other teams but it's still in our hands and we can control it," said head coach Corniel van Zyl.
"So it's back to the old cliche of this week being the most important and we will try to get as many points as we can."
A late win at Scarlets kept the Bulls seventh and they finish on home soil against the Italian pair of Zebre and Benetton.
Maximum points would not only claim a play-off place but potentially the huge advantage of a home quarter-final at altitude in Pretoria.
Ulster have recovered from a horrendous 2024-25 when they finished 14th, but have wobbled with back-to-back URC losses.
The Challenge Cup finalists finish against the top two in Belfast with scrum-half Nathan Doak aiming to build on their rousing semi-final win against Exeter.
"We've lost a few league games at home," he said. "The last two games at home are massive for us. We'll not be taking the foot off the pedal at all."
Champions Cup qualification
Ulster take on Montpellier in the Challenge Cup Final aiming to end a 20-year trophy drought.
It also comes with qualification for next season's Champions Cup, even if Richie Murphy's side miss out on the URC play-offs.
That would mean the team finishing eighth in the URC would miss out on Europe's top-tier competition, as happened to Ospreys in 2024 when Sharks lifted the Challenge Cup.
So, a top-seven finish could prove crucial for all involved.