A new BKT United Rugby Championship season is upon us, with all four Irish provinces in action on Saturday.
Can the Irish sides respond after last season's disappointing finish? We take a look at some of the big talking points ahead of the new campaign…
Derby deluge
All four Irish provinces enter this season with a point to prove – and could end up taking the frustrations of the previous campaign out on each other.
The first half of the URC season is crammed with interprovincial derbies, with all four provinces playing each other in the opening seven rounds.
Throw an Emerging Ireland tour into the mix and squads could be severely stretched towards the end of the first block of fixtures.
Leinster won six of their first seven fixtures last season, with an average winning margin of 24 points, but things are unlikely to be as routine this time.
With the South African teams minus their Springboks, the field has levelled out and there could be little separating the leading sides in the standings come the end of the year.
International exposure
The upcoming Emerging Ireland tour will cause disruption among the provinces and it could mean an earlier than usual return to club colours for some Ireland players.
Less than nine weeks have passed since Ireland’s series-clinching victory over New Zealand in Wellington and while the majority of those players are back in training with their respective provinces, it would normally be mid-to-late October before they would normally see competitive action.
However, with Simon Easterby taking a 35-man Emerging Ireland squad to South Africa, and a host of attritional derbies on the agenda, some international players could well find themselves called into action before the end of the month.
Johnny Sexton made four URC appearances last season, two of which were starts. Could he better that tally in his final campaign?
Welsh woes
It is over four years since one of the Welsh regions qualified for the play-offs, while all four finished in the bottom half of the inaugural United Rugby Championship.
Not one Welsh player made the URC team of the season. Even Michael Sheen could struggle to lift this underperforming quartet.
Off-field uncertainty continues to affect the professional game in Wales, with an agreement on funding yet to be agreed with the Welsh Rugby Union, which has overshadowed the start of the new season and the positive recruitment by some teams.
Cardiff, who finished 14th last season, have signed Wales internationals Taulupe Faletau, Liam Williams and Thomas Young, while All Black Vaea Fifita switched to the Scarlets from Wasps. JJ Hanrahan is also back in the URC after pitching up at the Dragons.
Cardiff and the Ospreys possess squads that could challenge for the top eight, but issues off the pitch could again hamper their chances.
Pitch perfect
Having been handed a hellish start, Connacht will hope the new 4G pitch at the Sportsground, along with the usual Atlantic conditions, can give them a slight edge over visiting sides.
Andy Friend’s travel to Belfast on Friday ahead of their season opener against Ulster the following evening and won’t return home for over two weeks. They will remain on the east side of the country before jetting out to South Africa on Monday for games against both of last season’s finalists – the Stormers and Bulls.
The Bulls match is on 30 September, seven days before they crown their new pitch with a crunch derby against Munster, giving them little time to practice on the new surface.
The Munster match is the first of three successive home games for Connacht, with Leinster and Scarlets visiting on successive Fridays. It’s a demanding schedule and one that could leave them playing catch-up, but Friend believes they can turn it into a positive.
"It’s not a fixture list that we’re fearful of," said Friend. "We’ve got this brilliant opportunity to go away for the first three [matches]. There’s nothing better than getting away on the road with the squad to build camaraderie, all that trust and the backbone of what you need to get you through a season.
"Then we come back for three brilliant games on a new surface at the Sportsground. It’s stage one of the new development and the club has put a lot of time, energy and effort into making this all happen.
"No better team to come back on play on 7 October than Munster. It’s a really exciting period and I can’t wait to get it started."
New coaches at the helm
Connacht and Munster weren’t the only ones making significant changes to their coaching staff during the summer.
Former Italy head coach Franco Smith has taken charge of Glasgow, who sacked Danny Wilson following the landslide loss to Leinster in June.
Smith was coach of Benetton when they first entered this competition and steered them to a seventh-place finish in his final season in 2013.
Staying in Italy, Fabio Roselli was handed the reins at Zebre after Emiliano Bergamaschi stepped aside due to personal reasons.
It has been a summer of sweeping changes in Parma, with 26 players leaving the club and 21 new arrivals.
Zebre finished rock-bottom of last season’s URC with their one solitary victory coming against the Dragons in their penultimate fixture. The Welsh club have also made change, with Dai Flanagan moving to Rodney Parade from the Scarlets to become head coach.
Follow the 2022/23 BKT United Rugby Championship across RTÉ radio, TV, RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
Watch live coverage of Cardiff v Munster and Zebre Parma v Leinster (17 September), Stormers v Connacht (24 September) and Dragons v Munster (25 September) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
