As domestic rugby kicks off this evening, we at Tonybet are ready for another great season for rugby fans. Buckle up for the latest campaign of hard-hitting, fast-paced action in the United Rugby Championship, English Premiership and European Champions Cup. This season comes with some rule changes as well, so let’s dive into what lies ahead for the 2024/25 rugby season.
How will the new rules shake things up?
This summer, three major rule changes were introduced by World Rugby ahead of the new season. These have been a blend of player safety and attempts to speed up the game a little more.
Dupont’s Law
The first one is an alteration to Dupont’s Law, which determines the offside regulations from kicks in open play. Players now cannot be put onside when the opposing team catches the ball and passes, kicks or runs five metres.
What does this change mean for play? Primarily, the catcher should have more space and time to run as a counterattack, as opposed to just kicking the ball back because of pressure. This change is designed to cut down all the loitering that players do in the middle of the pitch during kicking duels. Offside players will now have to try to retreat to an onside position to get back in the game.
Crocodile Roll Tackle
The crocodile roll tackle has now been outlawed from the game, so penalties or cards will be dished out if one happens. Back in this year’s Women’s Six Nations, England’s Sarah Beckett took a red card for performing one which broke the leg of an Italian player.
It’s not a tackle that is particularly common, but the law change introduces another layer of player protection. It could potentially make it tougher to clear out the ruck in certain situations. Players can still clear out a jackler, but can’t drop any weight on them, or specifically target their legs.
Free Kick Rule
Another big change to the game is the free kick rule, as players can no longer select a scrum, only a kick or a tap. This is to simply speed up restarts, but the scrum option is still there for penalties.
Leinster Start As Favourites as They Look to End URC Drought
The URC is back, starting with Edinburgh vs Leinster and Cardiff vs Zebre on Friday, September 20th. The Glasgow Warriors sprung something of a surprise last season to land what was their second URC title, while the then-reigning champions Munster topped the table but were shocked by the Scottish side in the semi-finals on home turf.
Leinster, whose last URC title came in 2021, are the clear odds-on favourites to win this season’s silverware. The provincial side has been table toppers in four of the last five seasons, but after winning the title four seasons in a row between 2018 and 2021, they haven’t been able to get their hands back on the prize.
Leinster scored 4.5 tries per match last season and produced a league-high 13 tries and also 13 from kick returns. They also topped the league for kick-in-play metres and it will be fascinating to see whether the new Dupont’s Law changes their approach.
After the collective struggles of Welsh teams last season who had to deal with an exodus of players and funding cuts, it will be fascinating to see how the rebuild of the likes of the Scarlets and Dragons goes this season. The Bulls and Stormers are both expected to be right in the mix again for a top-eight berth. South African clubs skip the first weekend of action because of the Currie Cup Final.
What’s been the URC Merger talk?
The URC is now in its fourth season and it’s just getting bigger and better every year. The best clubs from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and South Africa came together for the contest, and for many, it has now surpassed the declining product that is the English Premiership.
Recent reports suggest that English clubs were in favour of creating a new British and Irish league, leaving Italian and South African clubs out of the picture, because of the commercial value when it comes to a broadcasting deal. The URC has come out to shut the rumours down, saying they weren’t engaged in discussions.
Premiership looks for a reboot.
The English Premiership also starts back up for the autumn, after all the recent struggles which saw several clubs go into administration. In the last couple of years, the Premiership has lost Wasps, Worcester and London Irish. There has been some good news for the Premiership clubs, however, who receive an injection of cash from the Rugby Football Union to help bolster the quality and regrowth of the game.
The new season will again feature 10 teams and the kick-off match is between Bath and the reigning champions Northampton Saints, which is a repeat of last season’s Premiership final. The Saints are joint-favourites for the new season alongside Saracens, who were losing semi-finalists last term.
Bath will be striving to go one better than last season’s runners-up spot and they have consistently gotten stronger season-by-season in the last three terms. Finn Russell is the star of the Bath show, and their local rivals Bristol could take a step forward this season as well. Northampton’s Ollie Sleightholme is the preseason favourite to be the Premiership’s top try scorer.
For the third consecutive season, the top team in the Championship, this time the Ealing Trailfinders, were ineligible to join the Premiership after failing to meet the minimum criteria to join. This season, the moratorium on promotion and relegation between the Premiership and Championship is over. The restructuring will see a play-off tie between the bottom side in the Premiership and the top team in the Championship to see who plays in the top flight the following season.
The URC Stars To Watch Out For
Leinster, Munster and Ulster will all head into European Champions Cup action this season alongside the likes of Clermont, Toulon and Saracens. The opening round of fixtures will kick off on Friday, December 6th and in Round 1 the fixtures for the Irish provinces are Munster vs Stade Français, Stade Toulouse vs Ulster and Bristol Bears vs Leinster.
Bundee Aki, who recently became an Irish citizen, will line up for Connacht again this season and will be one of the high-profile stars of the competition. Connacht has been further boosted by the capture of All-Black Josh Ioane and the fly-half could prove to be the missing piece in their setup.
Leinster have pulled in a couple of big signings ahead of the new season. They triggered a clause in New Zealand star Jordie Barrett’s contract and the All Black will come into the Leinster back-line during the second half of the season while on a sabbatical from international duties starting in December.
RG Snyman also arrives at Leinster, with the giant lock moving over from rivals Munster. Injuries have been a problem for him in recent seasons, but if he’s fit, then he could be a massive game-changer up front for the province.
Munster have recognised their attacking shortcomings suffered at the back end of last season and have solved that problem by capturing Thakkir Abrahams from Lyon. He has speed and power in the Cheslin Kolbe-mould and with Diarmuid Kilgalleen also coming in, Munster should be a lot sharper in the backline.
Munster’s Jack Crowley was the URC Players’ Player of the Season last year and will be looking for a big follow-up campaign. Familiar names like Tadhg Beirne, Jon Crooney, Alex Nanikvell and Jordan Larmour all bolster the flare and quality of the United Rugby Championship.
The United Rugby Championship enters another thrilling season and Tonybet has all the season outrights, pre-match and live odds covering the action. Catch it all on our mobile app for the latest updates, and check out the Tonybet blog for news and previews.
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