GLASGOW Warriors will have an immediate opportunity to avenge last season's RaboDirect Pro12 grand final defeat by Leinster.

Gregor Townsend's side will take on the champions on September 6 in the first match of the campaign.

The Guinness League showdown will be shown live on Sky Sports, who will be covering the competition comprehensively for the first time, although BBC Alba will continue to broadcast Glasgow and Edinburgh matches on a regular basis.

Leinster's visit to Scotstoun will come just three months after they emerged as convincing winners over the Warriors in last season's grand final at Dublin's RDS Showground.

"We're excited that our games will be covered live by Sky and Alba next season," said Nathan Bombrys, Warriors' managing director. "Our preference has always been to stage matches on Friday nights at Scotstoun but we know this isn't always possible. Having Sky Sports on board for the first time is an exciting deve­lopment.

"We'd also like to thank our supporters for helping us achieve record season-ticket sales. We hope to see many of them at Scotstoun later this month when we take on Harlequins in a pre-season friendly."

Edinburgh begin their league challenge away to Muster on September 5. Their first live appearance on Sky will be five weeks later, against Newport-Gwent Dragons at BT Murrayfield.