Cockerill delighted new competition won’t clash with internationals
Glasgow, Cardiff, Ospreys, Scarlets, Dragons, Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Connacht, Benetton and Zebre from the Pro14.
URC chief executive Martin Anayi – who was CEO of Pro14 – claimed the new league would “begin to reshape the world of club rugby,” while SA Rugby boss Jurie Roux described it as “a watershed moment in South African rugby history”.
The competition format comprises four regional pools of four, with teams playing each other home and away in their group, plus one fixture against each of the other 12 sides, giving each club 18 regular season fixtures. Edinburgh and Glasgow will join Benetton and Zebre in the ‘Italian & Scottish Pool’.
The top eight teams in a single table after those 18 regular season encounters will then enter a straight knockout phase, culminating in a Grand Final.
Matches will not be played on international weekends – a huge boost for Edinburgh and Glasgow who lose swathes of players to Scotland during the Six Nations and autumn Tests.
"As a team which provides players to the national team in double figures, this is a real boost for us,” said Cockerill, the Edinburgh coach.
“Removing those clashes should mean better, more regular access to our best players, which can only be a good thing for our ambitions in the URC and for European Champions Cup qualification. It also means when supporters come to an Edinburgh game, they know they’re going to see the best against the best."
All points won during the URC season will contribute to rankings in the regional pools, and the highestranked team in each of the four groups will earn a Champions Cup place for the following season.
The remaining four allocated Champions Cup spots will go to the four highest-placed league teams that have not already qualified through their regional pools.
Teams will be seeded in the URC knockout phase based on their final league positions, meaning the top four will have home advantage, so the quarter-final fixtures would be: 1st v 8th, 2nd v 7th, 3rd v 6th, 4th v 5th.
The format of the new competition means there will be only two Edinburgh-glasgow league derbies next season and it remains to be seen if the 1872 Cup will revert to being settled over two games instead of three.
URC chief executive Anayi added: "Fans have always asked more of our league, and now we are taking it to new heights.
"Since the origins of the Celtic League in 2001, the vision has been to innovate and evolve in order to create a compelling competition which would challenge our players and teams to be at their very best every single week.
"Their potential has never been in doubt, and now we can provide them with the arena to be the very best. Forming the United Rugby Championship will begin to reshape the world of club rugby.”
The United Rugby Championship is scheduled to begin on the weekend of September 24/25/26. The regular season ends on May 20/21/22, with the play-offs due to be held over three weekends in June, with the final on the 24th or 25th.
Dave Cherry has withdrawn from Scotland’s summer tour with a hand injury.
The Edinburgh hooker has been replaced in the squad by the uncapped Adam Mcburney.
It’s tough luck on Cherry who sustained the injury in Sunday’s Rainbow Cup match against Scarlets.
He made his international debut this season at the age of 30 when he came on as a substitute in the historic win over England at Twickenham. He continued to play a key role for Scotland in the Six Nations, including scoring two tries on his first international start, in the victory against Italy at Murrayfield in March.
His absence from the summer programme opens the door for Mcburney, the Ulster hooker who will join Edinburgh next month.
Ballymena-born Mcburney represented Ireland up to under-20s level, but qualifies for Scotland through a grandmother from Cadder, Lanarkshire.
Interim head coach Mike Blair will lead a largely inexperienced national squad over the summer. They will play an A international against England in Leicester on June 27 before heading to Eastern Europe for Test matches against Romania on July 10 and Georgia on July 17.
The other hookers in the 37-man squad are Ewan Ashman, the uncapped Sale Sharks forward, and Glasgow Warriors pair George Turner and Grant Stewart.
Scotland lost back-row forward Matt Fagerson to injury on Monday and added Northampton centre Rory Hutchinson to the squad.