2020-21 was still affected with the COVID-19 pandemic; this meant very limited or usually no fans at the matches. The Southern Kings went bankrupt and the Cheetahs were unable to compete due to the pandemic, so the Pro14 ran with 12 European sides, still in two conferences. They did however court some of the South African Super Rugby Unlocked franchises for the following season and organised an end of season tournament - the Rainbow Cup - which because of COVID-19 was run as a mini European league of the Pro14 sides; and a South African league of their 4 biggest franchises that the Pro14 wished to invite - the winners of the two leagues would play off in a final. Glasgow Warriors stuttered in the Pro14 and only improved towards the end of the tournament. They managed to still secure a Champions Cup spot despite their early form. The end of season Rainbow Cup saw Glasgow lose their match against the surprise eventual Rainbow Cup tournament winners Benetton Treviso but then win the rest of their matches, securing the 1872 Cup along the way and beating this season's Pro14 winners Leinster in their last match. United Rugby Championship era The European sides were again joined by the South African franchises in season 2021–22. The championship was split in four conferences:- a Scottish-Italian conference, a South African conference, a Welsh conference and an Irish conference. The Warriors stuttered through the URC campaign. They seemed to have a bad knack of winning fixtures until the last quarter and then blowing their lead. Still, home results remained a bit better than the away fixtures. By the end of April they were just about managing to cling onto top 4 in the URC. Then the form stopped stuttering, but unfortunately things got worse. They bowed out of the Champions Cup at the hands of La Rochelle (the eventual winners of the European Cup that season), to find themselves in the Challenge Cup. A win against Newcastle Falcons papered over cracks but they were beaten in the quarter-final against Lyon, again losing the match from a winning position. (Lyon went on to win the Challenge Cup.) Beaten by both European winners may have been understandable but the Glasgow side's league form was much worse and a run of away fixtures hardly helped. Beaten by the Stormers and Bulls, the Warriors lost the 1872 Cup deciding