On 19 June 2026, Leinster beat the Bulls 36-7 at Croke Park to win the United Rugby Championship for the second year running, against the same opponents, at the same venue and by almost the same margin. It was the Bulls’ fourth final defeat in five seasons. Since the four South African franchises joined the competition in 2021, they have filled six of the ten places in URC finals but lifted the trophy only once.
For South African supporters, the move north has also changed when and how they follow the game: European fixtures now land on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons, at times close to home. Most local betting sites combine a sportsbook and a casino on one account, so the welcome offer often covers both. Comparisons of the best casino bonuses south africa players can claim show how far apart the two halves can be. One combined offer applies 25x wagering to the slots half and 1x to the sports half. A fan signing up to back the Stormers or Bulls is usually better served by the sports side of the deal.
The Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers left Super Rugby after the pandemic broke up the southern hemisphere competition. They had played across time zones of up to 10 hours against New Zealand and Australia. In Europe, they found opponents one or two hours away on the clock, though still a long-haul flight away.
The franchises first appeared in the Rainbow Cup in 2021 before joining the renamed United Rugby Championship for the 2021-22 season. The competition now combines teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Italy and South Africa in a single league with a play-off series.
The first season produced the best result South Africa has had. The Stormers topped the South African Shield and then beat the Bulls 18-13 in an all-South African final at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town, the franchise’s first major title.
Every South African finalist since has lost. Munster won in Cape Town in 2023, Glasgow Warriors beat the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in 2024, and Leinster then beat the Bulls in Dublin in both 2025 and 2026. In the 2026 final, the Bulls were 19-0 down after 27 minutes, almost exactly the deficit they had faced at the same venue a year earlier.
The pattern behind those results is well established. South African teams are strong at home, where touring sides face long flights and, in Pretoria and Johannesburg, the altitude of the Highveld. Away from home, results have been more uneven, and the Lions failed to win any of their eight overseas matches across the URC and Champions Cup last season, losing six and drawing two.
The competition has adjusted the schedule to help. In the 2026-27 season, each South African team completes three two-game URC tours, after earlier seasons with longer spells away. Squad depth remains the main constraint, since the same players have to cover the URC, Europe and Springbok duty.
Joining the URC also opened the door to European club competition. In June 2022, European Professional Club Rugby confirmed the South African clubs’ entry to the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup from the 2022-23 season, calling it a landmark expansion of its tournaments. The Cheetahs, who are not in the URC, were also invited into the Challenge Cup. In the Champions Cup, the quarter-finals remain South Africa’s best result so far, reached by the Stormers in 2022-23 and by the Bulls the following season.
The Challenge Cup has been more rewarding. In May 2024, the Sharks beat Gloucester 36-22 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to become the first South African side to win a European trophy. This season, the Lions make their Champions Cup debut, away to La Rochelle, after reaching the URC play-offs for the first time.
The move has kept crowds coming. The Stormers averaged 26,153 for home matches last season, and the derby against the Bulls drew 53,682 to Cape Town Stadium.
For the Springboks, the four franchises remain the domestic spine of the squad, now tested every week against Irish, Scottish and Welsh opposition rather than the Australasian sides they faced in Super Rugby. Siya Kolisi’s return to the Stormers this season, after spells with the Sharks and Racing 92, adds another Springbok to a URC side. The question for the sixth season is whether that depth of talent can finally turn South Africa’s run of finals into a second title.
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