Cape Town - The inaugural United Rugby Championship winners, the Stormers and finalists, the Bulls will kick off the new season at home when the 2022/23 edition of the competition gets underway in September.
The second season of the URC will kick off on 16 September 2022, with the regular season coming to an end in Round 18 on 23 April 2023.
All 18 rounds are confirmed with broadcast selections and kick-off times to be confirmed in early August.
The South African teams will sit out the first round and join in on the action in Round Two, with the reigning champions set to host Connacht, while the Bulls will face Edinburgh in Pretoria. The Sharks will travel to Italy for a meeting with Zebre Parma, while the Lions will also get started away from home when they take on Ospreys in Swansea.
In Round Three, Ulster and Leinster will battle it out in a massive all-Irish affair, while John Dobson's Stormers welcome Edinburgh Rugby and Connacht visit Loftus Versfeld.
It is North versus South in Round Four, with Edinburgh, Glasgow Warriors, Leinster and Zebre hosting the four SA teams.
After a hugely successful inaugural season, Martin Anayi, URC CEO, said: “The diversity of our league we so proudly celebrate, is also a reason for the immense complexity of putting together our Season 2 fixtures. This is a monumental task, and it takes many stakeholders many long hours dedicated to making this the best club rugby championship in the world.
“We have to consider a variety of factors across our 16 clubs and five territories, but we believe that our season schedule will give our fans the best rugby week in and week out. My heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who has worked tirelessly to put together a blockbuster fixture list right from Round 1.
“We have seen the success of our tournament format culminating in the grandest of Grand Finals last season and we look forward to going on this journey with our fans and with our stakeholders to another successful year of world-class rugby in action.”
The URC format will again see all 16 teams ranked across a single table.
Round One – Friday, September 16 / Saturday, September 17 / Sunday, September 18
Edinburgh Rugby v Dragons RFC
Ulster v Connacht
Benetton v Glasgow Warriors
Zebre Parma v Leinster
Scarlets v Ospreys
Cardiff Rugby v Munster
Round Two – Friday, September 23 / Saturday, September 24 / Sunday, September 25
Zebre Parma v Sharks
Glasgow Warriors v Cardiff Rugby
Leinster v Benetton
Stormers v Connacht
Bulls v Edinburgh Rugby
Scarlets v Ulster
Ospreys v Lions
Dragons RFC v Munster
Round Three – Friday, September 30 / Saturday, October 1 / Sunday, October 2
Cardiff Rugby v Lions
Ulster v Leinster
Benetton v Scarlets
Stormers v Edinburgh Rugby
Bulls v Connacht
Ospreys v Glasgow Warriors
Munster v Zebre Parma
Dragons RFC v Sharks
Round Four – Friday, October 7 / Saturday, October 8 / Sunday, October 9
Edinburgh Rugby v Lions
Zebre Parma v Stormers
Glasgow Warriors v Bulls
Connacht v Munster
Benetton v Dragons RFC
Scarlets v Cardiff Rugby
Leinster v Sharks
Ulster v Ospreys
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