Categories: Connacht Leinster Munster Provincial Ulster

Three Wins For Irish Teams In URC Round 1

BKT United Rugby Championship, Dexcom Stadium, Galway 27/9/2025 Connacht vs Benetton Rugby Connacht’s Dylan Tierney-Martin scores his sides third try Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Clohessy

Three out of four of the Irish teams in the BKT URC kicked off their campaign with a win but the opening day loss for Leinster was a shock for the defending champions.

Title holders Leinster Rugby went down to a 35-0 defeat at the hands of the DHL Stormers in Cape Town, provoking a straight-talking reaction from head coach Leo Cullen.

“We are hugely disappointed. We haven’t conceded a score like that in quite a while,” he said. “The guys were hurting inside the dressing room afterwards.

“We just weren’t at the races. We were really, really poor. We were very much second best in pretty much every department.

“Credit to the Stormers, I thought they were pretty outstanding. They were far better than us and much sharper in all the contact points. They put us under a huge amount of pressure, and we just didn’t manage it particularly well.

“We have come off a very successful season last year, and we have had a proper punch in the nose. It’s how we respond now and get back on the horse.

“We have to turn the page quickly into Bulls in Pretoria, which will be another serious challenge. We have to put in a much better performance there.

“It’s round one of 18, there’s a long way to go in this competition. I think we will get better as we progress through the weeks.”

Ulster may have conceded the opening try of the game to Dragons but they recovered well and went on to win 42-21 with six tries in the bag. Head Coach Richie Murphy said

“It wasn’t perfect, but it’s a good start. We have got five points at home and we move on. We put some good rugby together, and we are happy with the win.

“We go to Edinburgh next weekend, and we know we are going to have to be better over there.”

There were two further Irish wins on Saturday, with Munster Rugby under new Head Coach Clayton McMillan securing a 34-21 bonus point victory away to the Scarlets as hooker Niall Scannell made his 200th appearance for the province. Connacht Rugby also claimend the maximum as they marked the start of the Stuart Lancaster era by defeating Benetton Rugby 26-15 in Galway.