What is the United Rugby Championship? Tournament lowdown and format

The United Rugby Championship is the new name for the Pro14, which has been expanded this season to include four South African teams.

Format and teams

There are 16 teams split into four pools:

Irish Shield Pool
Connacht, Leinster, Munster, Ulster

Scottish/Italian Shield Pool
Benetton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Zebre

South African Shield Pool
Bulls, Lions, Sharks, Stormers

Welsh Shield Pool
Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys Scarlets

All clubs play the other teams in their pool twice home and away, then play the other 12 teams once - six at home and six away.

The overall standings will comprise all 16 teams and the top eight will qualify for the knockout playoffs, ranked first to eighth.

The pool standings are used only to determine European Champions Cup qualification. The top team in each pool will qualify to assure representation of at least one team from each region, then the next four teams from the overall standings who haven't already qualified join them, regardless of their region. The remaining eight teams go into the European Challenge Cup.

Where can I watch it?

All matches will be shown on Premier Sports while RTE2 and TG4 have access to some games in Ireland.

Who are the favourites?

Leinster, emphatic winners of the Pro14 last season, are odds-on to repeat their success at 4-6 with Paddy Power to win the grand final and 4-7 to top the regular-season standings.

Munster and Ulster are next in the betting, then it's the Bulls at 12-1 to win the final - the Pretoria-based outfit were the last South African team to win Super Rugby, in 2009 and 2010. They also reached the Pro14 Rainbow Cup final last season, where they were beaten by Benetton, while earlier this month they beat the Sharks to lift South Africa's Currie Cup.

It's 20-1 bar those teams.

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