DANIEL GALLAN talks to Rudolf Straeuli about his expectations of the league replacing PRO14

A mix of excitement, curiosity, and just enough skepticism greeted the launch of the United Rugby Championship (URC) last week. The new tournament will replace the existing PRO14 and will see South Africa’s four biggest unions – the Bulls of Pretoria, the Lions of Johannesburg, the Stormers of Cape Town and the Sharks of Durban – join their Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Italian counterparts to form a 16-team league.
An emotion that was missing was astonishment. This is worth noting as it points to shift...