How do you rate your chances in the Vodacom URC this season?

“We want to start well and it starts on Saturday against the Hollywoodbets Sharks at Thomond Park. We know what a challenge the season is, having gone through it last year.

“We are just looking forward to getting going again, having finished as strongly as we did. We pressed pause in May and we pressed play again when the lads came back into pre-season.

“We are still driving for improved performances. We have concentrated on getting better. Graham (Rowntree) is just not prepared to let things stand still. He wants our performances to improve, our skills to get better, our game understanding to get better and the quality of our squad to get better.”

Which teams are the top contenders to win the title?

“Everyone will have an expectation of competing heavily. Obviously, with the change to European qualifiation, there will be more of a race for the league. I imagine this year will be even more challenging, games will be very physical and I’m sure the skill level and brand of rugby will be a step up again.”

Pete Wilkins (Connacht)

How do you rate your chances in the Vodacom URC this season?

“I think making the semifinals last season certainly raised expectations and has generated a hunger within the group. As proud as they were to get to a semifinal, they realise we had to give ourselves a bit of catching up to do across the campaign after a slow start. And we probably didn’t give the best version of ourselves in that game over in Cape Town. As good as the DHL Stormers were, we felt we had a bit more in us and probably didn’t fire as many shots as we wanted to.

“I wouldn’t describe it as unfinished business, but it certainly whet the appetite for being involved at the sharp end of the competition.

“The other big lesson from last year is it’s a body of work accumulated across the season. It’s about building week after week and picking up bonus points even when you are not playing well. It’s about using the full squad. It’s a long campaign and we’ve got to approach it in that way and bite off the chunks as we go.

“I don’t think there’s an easy game in the Vodacom URC, but we have to recognise starting off with three home matches is a massive opportunity and we need to make the most of that. It’s only a great start if you win them.”

Which teams are the top contenders to win the title?

“It can be a bit up in the air after a World Cup campaign and there’s always that variation of guys coming back in.

“Glasgow Warriors did really well last season and we’ve got them in Round Two. They are a team that has caused us problems in the past. They have a very solid attack and defence.

“Ulster will have a point to prove, having been up near the top of the log for the last seasons, but without getting the silverware they are so hungry for. Leinster certainly won’t go away and Munster will have enormous confidence from their success last season.

“The South African teams are very strong. We will see how they go in the World Cup and when players return to them.

“Welsh rugby has obviously been through a period of transition in terms of what’s happened over the last few months, but, at the same time, if you have to go away and play in Wales they are tough games to get points from.

“So I see a lot of teams that will be there or thereabouts and it will be one of the most exciting Vodacom URC campaigns we have had so far.”

Marco Bortolami (Benetton)

How do you rate your chances in the Vodacom URC this season?

“Our objective is to make the play-offs and every team that makes the play-offs wants to win the league and we have to be no different. We have to grow our standards and grow our belief that we can compete against every team.

“Every season, every team has a lot of expectation and we are no different. We definitely want to improve on where we finished in the table.

“We are talking about small margins because, although we finished eleventh, we weren’t that far off the play-offs. A couple of wins more and we were in the mix. So we have got to make sure we approach every week ready to go and be as good as we can be because at the end of the season every little point, every win will count.”

Which teams are the top contenders to win the title?

“The South African teams are getting better and better every year, so they will offer a big challenge for everybody. The Irish teams are in a good period in terms of a quality generation of players. Leinster are very strong and Munster won the title last season. They are always the benchmark.

“It’s a similar story every year. I think Leinster, Munster and probably the DHL Stormers and the Vodacom Bulls are the favourites for the title.”

Matt Sherratt (Cardiff Rugby)

How do you rate your chances in the Vodacom URC this season?

“I’ve not got a target in terms of we want to win X amount of games or be the best Welsh region, we have just got to be the best we can be every week and try and play a brand of rugby that people want to come and watch. Success at the end of the season is if we’ve done that.

“It’s about getting the players to understand they are playing for a great club and a great city. Fun and enjoyment is a big part of what Cardiff has always been about. The second thing Cardiff is synonymous is with the castle, so we’ve themed ourselves around that. We are going to show some fight because that’s what the city and the club is about as well.

“If we can go out there and show fight every time and we play a brand of rugby that people love coming to watch, I will be happy with that.

“It’s been a long wait. It’s been a 16-17 week pre-season. They players can’t wait to get out and play the first game.”

Which teams are the top contenders to win the title?

“The Irish teams are always up and around there. It will be interesting to see how the World Cup affects the South African teams. They will always be strong.

“I would imagine the ones who have been around the top in the last few years will be there again. They have got the depth, especially the Irish provinces.”

Sean Everitt (Edinburgh Rugby)

How do you rate your chances in the Vodacom URC this season?

“Everyone would like to finish in the top eight and home play-offs would be fantastic. But we will take it one step at a time and we will take it week for week.

“Everyone wants to play in the Investec Champions Cup and for that to happen you need to finish in the top eight, so that would be our goal right now.

“We have got a very good squad as we proved in the friendlies against Bath and Connacht. We are very excited to get onto the field.”

Toby Booth (Ospreys)

How do you rate your chances in the Vodacom URC this season?

“We need to be competitive. Our performances against Welsh regions will always be a comparable. That’s an important thing. Europe then provides a different focus.

“They are the base-line performance measures we will look at and then we will see where that takes us.

“We have just got to get used to being in that washing machine of preparing well every week. We have got a tight group here and they work hard. They have been a dream to work with.”

Which teams are the top contenders to win the title?

“You often get an outlier in these World Cup years. The teams with the deepest squads normally end up there or thereabouts, but there is always a chance.

“Everyone loves sport for its uncertainty. You have seen in the World Cup some great performances that were less expected. You look at Portugal, Uruguay and Fiji. That’s what makes sport great and if we can produce a bit of Portugal and a bit of Fiji that would be great!”

Leo Cullen (Leinster)

How do you rate your chances in the Vodacom URC this season?

“There was disappointment at the end of last season, for sure. We lost the Vodacom URC semifinal in the last couple of minutes and similar in the Investec Champions Cup final the following week. It’s definitely focused on the mind.

“First and foremost, we’ve got to accumulate the points to get us to the knock-out stage again. It’s about trying to get that momentum and timing your run. You can draw parallels to this World Cup. England are the only team left in the competition that haven’t lost a game yet. The other three semifinalists have all lost games, so it’s all about making sure you time your run for when it really matters.

“There is a great opportunity for some of our younger guys to get some game-time at the start of the season with a big chunk of players having been away at the World Cup.

“It seems strange starting the season at the end of October. You would normally be a good few weeks into the season at this stage. We are keen to get going at this point. It’s been a long wait for us. Our guys are looking forward to getting going.

“It starts all over again now. We are all on zero, everyone is level, either level top or level bottom, whichever way you look at it!”

Which teams are the top contenders to win the title?

“These seasons after a World Cup can be very open. If you look back on history, eight years ago we finished top of the log again, made it to the final in Edinburgh and lost to Connacht.

“Every team is affected differently. Some teams will have a good chunk of players missing for different stages of the season. Other teams won’t be affected in the same manner. It’s who is able to deal with those disruptions best. That’s the challenge.

“Munster had had their frustrations and spoken very openly about that drive for silverware. They are a very motivated group and will be very hungry to be successful again.

“A lot of people had written them off early in the season last year. They did it the hard way - the quarterfinal away in Glasgow, a semifinal away against us, then a final in South Africa. It was very impressive, particularly going down to Cape Town. It’s hard to win down there.

“The four South African teams have totally changed the dynamic of the competition. They have given it a real shot in the arm. It’s a proper competition now with proper teams. I think it’s going in an incredibly positive direction. It’s an exciting competition and something we all need to push because it’s the bread and butter for us. Hopefully everyone gets behind it. There were a huge amount of Vodacom URC players at the World Cup, so there is proper quality.”

Franco Smith (Glasgow Warriors)

How do you rate your chances in the Vodacom URC this season?

“We obviously start from a completely different place from last year when I came in as a new head coach shortly before the season started without warm-up games. I had new ideas and had to get to know the coaching and playing group.

“The first thing that’s important this time is we are a little bit more trained, so our fitness levels are much better to start off with and our understanding of what we want to achieve is clearer.

“It was a big disappointment to lose to Munster in the quarterfinals last season. I think we deserved better. So that has played a role in our preparations.

“We still need to improve quite a bit and make sure we are innovative to get better.

All areas of the game need to become world-class and we are not yet at that level. There is so much individual growth that needs to take place and also unit and collective development. Now with the World Cup boys coming back in, we have to make sure we continue with the process.

“For me, success will be if we run out on to that field and are the best we can be and as competitive as we can be in all areas of the game - and also that we show some good mental growth and strength and in difficult situations. We want the guys to express themselves with the freedom we allow them.

“That will be success for me. I am not going to put a number of wins to it. Obviously, we want to win every game, every action, every metre.”

Which teams are the top contenders to win the title?

“I think our opening opponents, Leinster, will be disappointed at the fact that for two years they have dominated the competition with no reward.

“The DHL Stormers have proven themselves the last two years and Munster would like to continue what they have started off with. So they will be three big contenders.

“Benetton have a lot of international experience and have signed very well. Their squad depth is good. I think they will also be a very difficult hurdle to overcome.

“Then, on their day, you’ve got the Vodacom Bulls and Emirates Lions and we need to play them away.

“I definitely feel the similar teams to last year will end up top. The second part of the season is always the most important and the World Cup won’t influence that.”

Dwayne Peel (Scarlets)

How do you rate your chances in the Vodacom URC this season?

“It’s definitely been challenging because from the day we arrived back in training there were 17 weeks until our first Vodacom URC game against the Vodacom Bulls. So there’s a lot of planning gone into it in terms of the schedule. But it’s given us time to spend with the boys and they have been great. I think we are in a good place.

“It was a bit weird last year because we had a big emphasis on starting fast and then we didn’t. It was the total opposite.

“We just didn’t come out of the traps and we got in a rut. But we stayed true to what we were trying to do. The European games helped us in many ways because it gave us a bit of a change of focus. We got two wins and we didn’t look back from there really. We found a good rhythm and a bit of consistency."