{"id":369681,"date":"2025-12-24T22:13:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/369681\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:13:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:13:06","slug":"3-must-watch-matches-in-the-united-rugby-championship-round-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/369681\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Must-Watch Matches In The United Rugby Championship Round 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Derby season continues in the United Rugby Championship\u00a0<\/a>and, to be quite frank, it is only getting better in Round 8 after a thrilling seventh chapter to this season.<\/p>\n

The Irish Derby in Round 7 saw Leinster score late to finally submit an Ulster team trying to win its first-ever Irish Shield, 24-20. Meanwhile, Benetton won the first leg of the Italian Derby, 21-15, over Zebre Parma. And the 1872 Cup opening salvo went to Glasgow, as Edinburgh \u2014 for the second week in a row \u2014 struggled to find the try line.<\/p>\n

The Hollywoodbets Sharks beat the Vodacom Bulls \u2014 that\u2019s two wins in a row for the boys from Durban \u2014 while the DHL Stormers fended off the Lions, 34-27, in the other South Africa derby.<\/p>\n

This week, though, it\u2019s derby matches everywhere in the URC. Welsh clubs will continue their round robin on Boxing Day, Friday, Dec. 26.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll all play again on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

Here are the three best matches in Round 8 (at least this week\u2019s portion of Round 8).<\/p>\n

Wait\u2026 what does that mean?<\/p>\n

Well, the South Africa derby rounds pick up on Jan. 3 with the North\u2013South Derby in Pretoria, while the Sharks and Lions don\u2019t play their Round 8 match until Feb. 21.<\/p>\n

Munster Rugby vs. Leinster Rugby, 2:45 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 27<\/p>\n

The last matchup between these two clubs in 2025 \u2014 and possibly for the 2025\u20132026 season \u2014 this is perhaps the best rivalry in the sport. We\u2019re not saying this derby is better than Springboks\u2013All Blacks, but it could very well be.<\/p>\n

If we have to explain why this is a must-watch match, we thank you for stumbling across this article, and we hope you subscribe to watch every minute of it.<\/p>\n

Edinburgh Rugby vs. Glasgow Warriors, 10 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 27<\/p>\n

The 1872 Cup continues as the match moves from Hampden Park in Glasgow to Hive Stadium in the shadow of the national stadium at Murrayfield.<\/p>\n

Since stunning Toulon in Round 1 of the Champions Cup at home, Edinburgh has found it increasingly difficult to score tries. Shut out by Castres the following week, Edinburgh scored twice in the first 51 minutes against Glasgow, but were shut out the rest of the match. But they are a different squad when playing in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

For Glasgow, who sit at 5-0-2 on the table and are seven points behind table-leading DHL Stormers (32-25), winning on the road could allow them to pick up valuable points.<\/p>\n

The Welsh Derbies on Friday, Dec. 26<\/p>\n

OK. Is this a cop-out? I don\u2019t know. But both Welsh derby matches on Boxing Day are intriguing.<\/p>\n

Cardiff Rugby is quietly the story of the season in the URC as they enter this round with 26 points and a 5-0-2 record, third on the table.<\/p>\n

At 10 a.m., Cardiff hosts the Dragons at Cardiff Arms Park.At 12:30 p.m., the Scarlets \u2014 who had the best record of all the Welsh teams a year ago but didn\u2019t win the Welsh Shield \u2014 take on the Ospreys.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the moment while it lasts, rugby fans, because major changes are coming to Welsh rugby.<\/p>\n

Subscribe To Watch Rugby All Year Long With A FloRugby Annual Subscription<\/p>\n

A FloRugby annual subscription provides access to PREM Rugby, Top 14, URC, the EPCR Challenge Cup and the Investec Champions Cup, streaming live throughout the year.<\/p>\n

URC Fixtures: Round 8 Schedule<\/p>\n

Friday, Dec. 26<\/p>\n

10:00 AM ET \u2013 Cardiff vs. Dragons12:30 PM ET \u2013 Scarlets vs. Ospreys<\/p>\n

Saturday, Dec. 27<\/p>\n

9:30 AM ET \u2013 Zebre Parma vs. Benetton10:00 AM ET \u2013 Edinburgh vs. Glasgow Warriors12:30 PM ET \u2013 Connacht vs. Ulster2:45 PM ET \u2013 Munster vs. LeinsterEuropean Union Rugby Lives On FloSports And FloRugby<\/p>\n

Rugby fans can stream every match from the Top 14, Gallagher Premiership and United Rugby Championship on FloRugby, along with the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, making the platform the U.S. home for the world\u2019s biggest club competitions and the game\u2019s top players.<\/p>\n

How To Watch Rugby Matches In The United States On FloRugby<\/p>\n

Professional club rugby in Europe all streams on FloRugby and the FloSports app in the United States. FloRugby and FloSports also are the U.S. home to:\u00a0<\/p>\n

FloRugby also is home to match archives and match replays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Join The Rugby Conversation On FloRugby Social<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Derby season continues in the United Rugby Championship\u00a0and, to be quite frank, it is only getting better in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-369681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}