Lancaster reports a “reasonably clean bill of health” for the start of the new season, but British and Irish Lions trio Bundee Aki, Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham are unlikely to feature until “rounds three or four”.
He confirmed he will use the early rounds of the campaign to rotate his team selections as they get ready to compete against a variety of styles.
After their home game against Benetton they host Scarlets, travel to Cardiff, welcome Bulls to Galway and make the trip to Limerick to take on Munster in their next four games.
“You’ve the South African blitz defence, Leinster defending differently, Welsh teams play a different way, Scottish a different way, Italians this way, so there is a lot more variety in the URC than the Premiership where the top four teams are a different animal and relegation is a big factor,” Lancaster added.
“Because of the way South Africa play the power game, it’s probably closer to Top 14 than Super Rugby or Premiership.
“To that end, we need to compete physically, set-piece, aerially and in the territory game as well because if you play territory in the URC all the time, you’ll get swallowed up.”