Things are rarely simple in rugby and Edinburgh’s bid to qualify for the play-offs of the United Rugby Championship can be placed in the complicated and convoluted category. Sean Everitt’s side are tantalisingly close but may have to wait until Saturday night before learning their fate. This is the final week of the regular season and only the top eight teams from the 16-team league will advance to the play-offs which are to be played on a straight knockout basis over the three weekends after this one. There is also qualification for next season’s Investec Champions Cup at stake. Finishing in the top half would secure a place in the elite European club competition; bottom-half URC teams go into the second-tier Challenge Cup. Edinburgh have not made the top eight since 2022, the URC’s inaugural season, finishing 10th last year and 12th in 2023, so the pressure is on to avoid missing out on the play-offs for the third time in a row. They sit 10th in the standings ahead of their final match which is against Ulster at home on Friday night. Edinburgh need to win, and will probably require a bonus point, but they also need one or two other results to go their way. Five teams have already qualified for the play-offs - Leinster, the Bulls, Glasgow Warriors, the Sharks and Stormers - leaving three places up for grabs. As things stand, there are five teams chasing those three spots. Sixth-placed Scarlets are best placed on 48 points but have a tough final game against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday. Benetton and Munster are seventh and eighth and locked together on 46 points. Intriguingly they play each other in Cork on Friday night in what amounts to a winner-takes-all shoot-out. Cardiff and Edinburgh both sit outside the play-off places, in ninth and tenth respectively. Cardiff, who play the Stormers in Cape Town, also have 46 points and Edinburgh have 44. If Edinburgh record a simple win over Ulster (scoring fewer than four tries) they will pick up four match points and move on to 48 but that would leave them in a precarious position and unable to overhaul the Scarlets. To qualify on the back of a four-point win, Edinburgh would need Cardiff to lose in South Africa and also for the game in Cork to finish in their favour. Any sort of Benetton win would suit Edinburgh because they would overtake Munster. But if Benetton were to lose and pick up two losing bonus points Edinburgh would finish behind both the Italian side and Munster. Equally, a draw between Munster and Benetton in which the Irish side pick up a four-try bonus point would be bad news for Edinburgh This is because a four-point win for Edinburgh would likely leave them tied with others on 48 points. If teams are level on points, URC competition rules state that the number of matches won by each club in the league stage is used to determine who finishes highest. As things stand, Scarlets and Benetton have nine wins, Munster and Cardiff have eight and Edinburgh have seven. Given Benetton and Munster can’t both win, Edinburgh will draw level with one of them but they can’t match either Scarlets’ or Benetton’s win totals. If teams are level on match points and wins, the next determining factor is points difference and this is where Edinburgh are well placed. They are on +34, the second best total of the five sides vying for play-off places. Scarlets are +54, Benetton are -76, Munster are +6 and Cardiff are -58. So there are many variables at play here but, in essence, a win for the Stormers over Cardiff and a defeat without two bonus points for either Munster or Benetton would secure Edinburgh a top-eight place if they pick up four points against Ulster. Life would be a lot easier for the Scottish side if they can beat Ulster and score four or more tries in the process as it would give them the maximum five points from the match and take them on to 49. It would make the result of Munster v Benetton irrelevant because Edinburgh would move above one of those teams regardless of the result in Cork. But Everitt’s side also need one other result to go their way: Cardiff to lose or draw against Stormers and/or Scarlets to lose against Sharks and not pick up a bonus point. Confused? Well the whole thing is rendered even more complex by the fact that all the games are scheduled for different times. The concept of simultaneous kick-offs in the final round of league fixtures is commonplace in the major leagues of European rugby and football but is not one that has been embraced thus far by the URC which is now in its fourth year. Instead, the games are staggered to suit broadcasters (Premier Sports in the UK). First up on Friday are the Stormers and Cardiff whose game at DHL Stadium starts at 6pm. Then it’s Edinburgh v Ulster at Hive Stadium at 7.35pm followed by Munster v Benetton at Virgin Media Park at 8pm. Depending on how the Friday results pan out, the so-called Race for the Eight may spill into Saturday when the Scarlets take on the Sharks at Kings Park at 6.30pm. Everitt knows Edinburgh need to take care of their own business before they can worry about results elsewhere but when they take to the field against Ulster on Friday the Stormers-Cardiff game will be well into its second half. “That's a massive game, and that can determine our fate at the end of the day,” said Everitt. “But we've got to focus on our performance. We've got to win the game, and that's what our focus needs to be. And if the results don't go our way on the weekend, we'll have given it our best shot.”