Home games for Sharks and Stormers cap positive Pool stage

The final round of the Pool phase of both the Heineken Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup suggested there is unlikely to be silverware for any South African team this year, but for a first foray into Europe it has been a fair start.

All five teams are through to the last 16 in their respective competitions, and in the prestigious Champions Cup, both the Cell C Sharks and the DHL Stormers will host plum home games after finishing third in their respective pools. On the weekend of 31 March to 2 April, the Sharks will be at home at Hollywoodbets Kings Park to fellow Vodacom United Rugby Championship team Munster, while the Stormers have an appetising home fixture against Harlequins.

That second mentioned game is certainly one to look forward to given how both teams have attacking rugby based around passing and a general joie de vivre in approach so indelibly etched into their DNA. With both teams likely to be at full strength by the time the game arrives, it will be one that should provide plenty of spectacle.

SMITH MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE

Harlequins were without their attack orientated England flyhalf Marcus Smith for their first round clash with the Sharks in Durban in December. But he was back for the clash at The Stoop, and he dazzled with his eye catching skills and playmaking ability as the hosts played with a tempo that left the Sharks behind, certainly in the first half.

It was only two really fine tries where their own willingness to counter-attack from deep was writ large that kept the Sharks in the game on a clear, sunny afternoon in London. Those scores brought the Sharks back from a 21-8 deficit to 24-22 at halftime. The second of those tries, the one scored by Eben Etzebeth, was particularly audacious, and is worth searching for if you haven’t seen the game.

It does appear South African teams get caught out when they head north in the winter with the willingness of their opponents to bring the kind of tempo that the local teams might not expect in northern conditions. It happened to the Stormers in their URC game against Glasgow two weeks ago and it happened to the Sharks - they appeared a second or two behind their opponents when it came to the speed with which the ball was recycled and the attack was put together.

Of course, the Stormers had a synthetic surface to contend with in Glasgow, while the Sharks just had the class of an opposition team that drummed home the message that it will be incredibly hard for the South African teams to go all the way to the deciding game in this competition. That is because the semifinals will be played overseas.

By losing at The Stoop, the Sharks cost themselves a gilt-edged opportunity to be in a favoured position to host a quarterfinal. Had they finished in the top two, which was where they started the weekend, that would have been the scenario. Instead they will have to rely on a team winning away if they are to host a quarterfinal, as will the Stormers.

GOOD FOR STORMERS TO AVOID THE BULLS

The Stormers were second from after their good win over Clermont-Auvergne right through Sunday until Toulouse beat Munster to lift themselves to second and push the Cape team to third. John Dobson’s team might not quite know what to think about that - it would have been great for them to be second and in with a good chance of securing a home quarterfinal, but had they been in the top two the round of 16 game would have been against the Bulls.

The north/south derbies are always intense affairs and are a great occasion on the South African rugby calendar, but they also happen fairly often and are usually very physical games. A game against a team that Cape Town hasn’t seen before in the form of Harlequins is probably preferable.

The Bulls would probably have hoped to play the Stormers. It would have meant they don’t have to do another overseas trip. Going to Cape Town would for them be far preferable to going away to face mighty Toulouse. There again, had it been the Stormers you’d probably have seen Jake White commit all his top players, whereas now that is debatable.

PRETORIA TEAM CHOOSING ITS BATTLES

The Bulls delivered an embarrassing performance in their final Pool game in Lyon, but with their selection they sent out the message, not for the first time this season, that they are choosing their battles and prioritising the URC ahead of the Champions Cup. And by the time we get to April, it might well be clear that they were right to do so. On the evidence of what we have seen, winning play-off games in Europe is going to be a difficult task.

The Emirates Lions and Toyota Cheetahs both delivered what they needed to in the Challenge Cup, the Cheetahs doing it in particularly exciting fashion by winning against Pau with a last gasp penalty, by advancing to the last 16. The next two teams from each Champions Cup pool that failed to make the top eight now drop into the round of 16 in the Challenge Cup.

The final week of Pool action delivered plenty of excitement, with the Sharks having to wait until Edinburgh’s exciting win over Saracens in the final game to be sure of their third place. Ulster sent out a warning to the Stormers, who visit them for an important URC clash on Friday, by beating Sale Sharks, and that was enough for them to defy the odds by making the last 16.

Weekend Heineken Champions Cup results

Leicester Tigers 26 Ospreys 27
Lyon 31 Vodacom Bulls 7
Northampton Saints 13 LaRochelle 31
Bordeaux-Begles 17 Gloucester 26
Leinster 36 Racing 92 10
Exeter Chiefs 40 Castres 3
DHL Stormers 30 ASM Clermont Auvergne 16
Ulster 22 Sale Sharks 11
Montpellier 21 London Irish 21
Toulouse 20 Munster 16
Edinburgh 20 Saracens 14

Round of 16 fixtures (to be played 31 March/1 and 2 April, time TBC)

Saracens v Ospreys
Cell C Sharks v Munster
DHL Stormers v Harlequins
Toulouse v Vodacom Bulls
LaRochelle v Gloucester
Leicester Tigers v Edinburgh
Exeter Chiefs v Montpellier
Leinster v Ulster

SA Challenge Cup results

Dragons 25 Emirates Lions 30
Toyota Cheetahs 9 Pau 6

Challenge Cup round of 16

Toulon v Toyota Cheetahs
Scarlets v Brive
Benetton v Connacht
Glasgow v Dragons
Stade Francais v Lyon
Emirates Lions v Racing 92
Bristol Bears v ASM Clermont Auvergne
Cardiff v Sale Sharks