The 2024-25 United Rugby Championship season gets underway this weekend with both of Scotland's representatives hoping to get off to a positive start.
Glasgow Warriors go into the new campaign as defending champions after their stunning run to the URC Grand Final last season where they claimed a famous win over Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria to lift the trophy.
Edinburgh Rugby, meanwhile, missed out on a play-off place last season after a disappointing 10th place finish and will be hoping for a better outcome in head coach Sean Everitt's second year in charge.
Both sides face a tough start to the campaign as Glasgow kick things off at the Kingspan Stadium in Ulster on Saturday while Edinburgh welcome title favourites Leinster to The Hive on Friday night.
But where will the Scottish sides finish this season? That question has been answered by a URC supercomputer which has predicted the entire league standings from first place through to 16th.
The boffins at Grosvenor Sport have based their findings on a probability model, not determined by human predictions or bias. The supercomputer has estimated the outcome of each fixture based on a team’s current strength (based on factors such as league position and form) and betting market odds.
The machine then simulates all matches in a season 10,000 times and constructs an average league table from the ensuing simulations, to rule out anomalous results.
Here is the predicted URC table for season 2024-25, from last placed to first, according to the Grosvenor Sport supercomputer...
9. Ospreys - 8th
The Swansea outfit are projected to pip Edinburgh to a top eight spot. According to the supercomputer they will have an almost identical season to last year, winning 10 matches, and gaining one more point than the 50 accumulated securing eighth place last term. | SNS Group
10. Lions - 7th
The Johannesburg-based side just missed out on the play-offs last term by points differential. According to the supercomputer, they will make up for that this term by finishing inside the top eight with 10 wins and 52 points. | SNS Group
11. Ulster - 6th
The Northern Irish side are tipped to have another solid campaign by following up last season's sixth-placed finish with another, finishing one point better off on 55 points from 11 wins. Jonny Matthews is pictured scoring a try against Ulster at Scotstoun last season. | SNS Group
12. Stormers - 5th
The Cape Town team finished fifth last season and are projected to do so again with 12 wins yielding 62 points. That would represent a three point improvement on their tally last term. Glasgow defeated Warriors at Scotstoun in the play-off quarter-final in June en route to lifting last season's title. | SNS Group