May is the month when leagues are settled and teams across Europe vie to finish in the top spots after a long arduous season. In elite pro rugby, the aim is to make the play-offs and this weekend marks the end of the BKT United Rugby Championship’s regular campaign. Glasgow Warriors have already secured their place in the all-important top eight and are guaranteed a home quarter-final. Edinburgh’s URC play-off hopes remain up in the air. They are one of five teams trying to secure one of the three places still up for grabs in the top eight. The likelihood is that they will have to beat the already-eliminated Ulster at home on Friday with a bonus point and hope one or two other results go in their favour. It should be a cracking evening: summer rugby, a sold-out stadium and plenty of jeopardy, for the home side at least, whose whole season now hinges on this game. But the chances are that the Edinburgh players will come off the pitch on Friday and still not be certain whether they’ve made the play-offs or not. That’s because, unlike in the top leagues in England and France, the final round of fixtures in the URC do not kick off at the same time. Sean Everitt, the Edinburgh coach, was diplomatic when asked about it on Monday but acknowledged that simultaneous kick-offs “would make it more exciting”. As it is, the five teams battling it out for the remaining play-off places are involved in four games spread over two days to suit television. Ninth-placed Cardiff are up first. They take on the already-qualified Stormers in Cape Town on Friday at 6pm. They’re followed by tenth-placed Edinburgh whose game with Ulster is at 7.35pm. Then it’s the showdown between Munster and Benetton in Cork which kicks off at 8pm. The two teams are locked on 46 points - in eighth and seventh place, respectively - and the victors are guaranteed a play-off place while the losers’ fate will hinge on other results. If it’s a draw, one or both teams might yet make it. The sixth-placed Scarlets are the final contenders in action and they won’t play until Saturday at 6.30pm when they take on the Sharks in Durban. The Welsh side require two points to secure their place in the play-offs. It’s complicated and convoluted but would be given a dramatic boost if all these games were kicking off at the same time. Football cottoned on to this long ago. As well as adding extra spice to the final day, it’s fairer. With staggered kick-offs, the teams playing last know exactly what they need to do. Some European football leagues - Italy and France, most notably - also now have the penultimate round of fixtures kicking off simultaneously. The Gallagher Premiership hasn’t gone that far but the English top flight’s regular season will conclude on May 31 with all matches kicking off at 3.05pm. It’s the same in the Top 14 where the final round of games will get underway at 8.05 the following Saturday evening. The URC likes to think it is the equal of those two leagues and in many ways it is but this rather messy conclusion to its season needs a rethink. Martin Anayi, the URC’s long-serving chief executive, seemed to acknowledge as much last year. “In Pro12 and Pro14 we had simultaneous kick-offs [in the final round],” said Anayi. “There is so much riding on these games that it would make sense to do that from a sporting point of view. Where we are in the world of broadcast, it tends to be something that they like spread throughout the weekend. “It’s about balance between what we as fans want, which is probably to see the games kick off at the same time, and what our partners require as a business need, which is having them spread out.” While the broadcasters hold sway at the moment, Anayi was hopeful that it could change when the next TV deal is negotiated. “When we move into the next TV cycle, which is 2025-26, we’ll try to fill that in and see where we get to,” he said in a round table with journalists last June. For Everitt, the focus is on Edinburgh beating Ulster, rather than TV scheduling. “We're not too concerned about what the other teams can do because if we don't get our job done, it doesn't matter,” he said “We know what the permutations are, but we can't wait for other results. We've got to get our five points. If we don't get our five points, we don't need to watch rugby on the weekend. It's as simple as that. There will be some interesting games after ours, but we'll know where we are. I know Cardiff play just before us as well. For us, it's about focusing on our job.” As well as needing to take five points from the Ulster game, Edinburgh must hope either Cardiff or the Scarlets lose in South Africa, and if it’s the latter it can’t be with two bonus points. Edinburgh will also benefit from the Munster-Benetton game, regardless of the result. Everitt’s side showed plenty of character to beat Connacht 31-21 in Galway at the weekend in a game that ebbed and flowed, but the coach believes they will need to be better against Ulster. “We need to make improvements from Saturday,” he said. “We had a lot of positives that were undone by negatives and that's why the game fluctuated the way it did. We've had a good chat about that and it's something we need to work on.” It should be a nailbiting end to the season. It’s just a shame it won’t all unfold at the same time.