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...
13. Glasgow - 4th
Franco Smith's side are projected to equal last season's fourth place finish with 12 wins and 63 points, one win and point less than in the 2023-24 campaign. Warriors are also second favourites to defend their URC title with the supercomputer giving them a 24.5 percent chance of lifting the trophy for a second year running. There’s also a 18.75 percent chance of a repeat of last year's final against Bulls. | SNS Group
14. Bulls - 3rd
The Pretoria outfit finished second in the table last season before going on to reach the Grand Final where they lost to Glasgow. Bulls are projected to drop to third in the league standings in the coming campaign on 64 points. They are expected to make the semi-finals as the best performing South African side. However, the Bulls have been given just a 9.2 percent likelihood of becoming URC champions. | Getty Images
15. Munster - 2nd
The Irish side are projected to finish second in the regular season with 13 wins and 66 points but will fail to reach the Grand Final with Graham Rowntree’s side given just a 10.3 per cent chance of going all the way, according to the Supercomputer. | SNS Group
16. Leinster - 1st
The Irish side are projected to win the United Rugby Championship for the first time with Leo Cullen’s side predicted to top the regular season table on 74 points with 15 wins from 18 matches, as well as being given a 55.7 per cent chance of winning the Grand Final. | Getty Images