The first season of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship is rumoured to have one last twist in store with talk that the 18 June final will be hosted in South Africa.

In the tournament’s previous iterations as the PRO12, PRO14 and PRO16, the grand finale was always held in the UK or Ireland, either at a designated neutral venue or the home stadium of the best-ranked team.

However, according to a report on RugbyPass, officials are now considering staging the showpiece URC match in South Africa, in order to help grow the profile of the tournament in the country.

As it stands, the Stormers (43 points), Bulls (42) and Sharks (41) respectively occupy the sixth, seventh and eighth places and stand a good chance of progressing to the playoffs.

Added to this, Covid-19 restrictions have been relaxed in South Africa, allowing local teams to sell 50% of their stadium capacity. Previously, South African teams were only allowed to have a maximum of 2,000 fans in their stadiums.

Recently, the Vodacom Bulls hosted 19,436 fans in their match against Irish side Ulster at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

As Jim Hamilton revealed on the latest episode of the ‘Rugby Pod’, URC officials are considering having the grand finale in South Africa, regardless of whether a South African team makes it through or not.

“It’s all going to come down to Leinster at the end of the season, so the big question around the URC is, who can beat Leinster? Ulster, that’s it. Just. But I am telling you now a Stormers or a Bulls team could beat Leinster, I reckon, on the day,” said Hamilton.

“It has not been formalised yet but what I am hearing, because there is a lot of who knows, is that the final is going to be in South Africa. So having a final in South Africa will be class as a commentator but that is where you are thinking, can Leinster win it again?

“The South Africans are not just dominant, they are extremely dominant physically and that is the worry … comfortable wins across the board. We have seen 40 points, 50 points by South African teams on anyone who has gone there. It is good for the URC but is it good for the teams that are getting absolutely hosed by them going down there? Well, I’m sure they are having a good little mini tour in the sun.”

Photo: Lee Warren/Gallo Images