The Vodacom Bulls will kick off their United Rugby Championship campaigns with four consecutive away matches as they embark on a European tour. No URC matches will take place in the southern hemisphere until November, meaning the Vodacom Bulls will get an early feel for the geography of the new competition as they travel to Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.
The Bulls could hardly have asked for a tougher start to the campaign as they travel to Dublin to take on Leinster – winners of the last four editions of the PRO14 – in the headline fixture of the opening weekend.
It should give the men from Pretoria an early indication of how they measure up to their northern hemisphere rivals before they travel west to take on Connacht in Galway. Then the Bulls call into the Welsh and Scottish capitals as they round off their European tour with clashes against Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Their first match back on home soil will be against Munster in Round 6 (27 November 2021) followed by the Scarlets a week later (03 Dec 2021). Thereafter, the URC takes a break until the end of December. The Vodacom Bulls then again travel to Europe with their first game against Zebre (08 Jan 2022).
Round 1: Leinster, Aviva Stadium Dublin. (September 25)
Round 2: Connacht, Parc Y Scarlets Llanelli. (October 1)
Round 3: Cardiff, Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff. (October 9)
Round 4: Edinburgh, Edinburgh Rugby Stadium. (October 16)
Round 5: Munster, Loftus Versfeld. (November 27)
Round 6: Scarlets, Loftus Versfeld. (December 03)
Round 7: Zebre, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi Parma. (January 08)