There were two plays at almost identical stages of the Investec Champions Cup games that the DHL Stormers and Hollywoodbets Sharks played in Paris and Bordeaux respectively at the weekend that perhaps should have been highlighted more than they were.
At La Defense Arena, with three minutes to go to halftime, the Stormers and Racing 92 were trading blow for blow and it was close. There were two points in it and although the Stormers had gifted the hosts points, mostly because of a wonky lineout and because of the Racing ability to pounce on mistakes, it was anyone’s game.
But then came a try to Racing that should never have happened. Stormers fullback Clayton Blommetjies had shepherded the ball out near his own line and made sure it went beyond the advertising barrier. Then he turned his back on it and the rest of his teammates also paid little attention to the ball as they started to prepare their defences for the lineout that they expected to be formed.
Only it never got to a lineout. Instead Racing, knowing it was the same ball they had in their hands and the Stormers were dozing, threw in quickly and the ball was transferred down the line for a try in the corner. What was shaping as a two point break at halftime became a nine point game and suddenly the Stormers were chasing.
The following day at the Stade Chaban-Delmas I had a sense of deja vu when, with the Sharks and Bordeaux-Begles deadlocked at 12-all, the home team kicked towards the corner. Ethan Hooker was isolated and the Sharks were penalised. From that penalty, the French team formed a set piece metres from the line, it was a movie I’ve seen several times before in South African team games overseas and had seen it the previous night.
Never stopped fighting, but not to be in Paris. #R92vSTO #iamastormer pic.twitter.com/HGkgOeV6Vj
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) January 18, 2025
Over went Bordeaux for a converted try and instead of the scores being level, which the Sharks would have deserved as they’d had several moments where it was they who applied pressure and just couldn’t convert, it was Bordeaux who took a seven point lead into the break.
LOSING THE KEY MOMENTS WAS COSTLY
Tries scored just before the break, because they have such a big psychological impact, are often killer scores. Victor Matfield, on duty as a Supersport analyst, was South Africa’s most capped international player before Eben Etzebeth surpassed him so he’s seen plenty of rugby and appeared to foresee what was coming next. He spoke like he knew how crucial that score was.
And it was. Bordeaux hit quickly after the break, and once they were more than a score ahead, and with their passionate and vocal crowd behind them, there was always only going to be one winner. It became embarrassing for the Sharks in the end, and it was probably always going to be thus because Bordeaux are that good. But like the Stormers the previous night, it was that key moment before halftime that really cost them.
The Stormers didn’t lose in the manner that the Sharks did, but then they weren’t playing the same quality of opposition. Bordeaux have gone past 60 in several games this season, and against good teams. Toulouse are on the same level as Bordeaux are, and in the game immediately after the one in Bordeaux they hit 80 against Leicester Tigers.
It was a big game for the Tigers because they were playing for a home spot in the round of 16 phase. They had their top players, like Handre Pollard on the field - at least for the first half. In the second half there wasn’t much point in sticking with their frontline players, because they were already 42-0 behind at the break.
There were no redeeming features of the game for the Tigers. They were at full-strength, and they were outplayed from the start. Unlike the injury ravaged Sharks, who actually had a really good opening half before the key moment that cost them.
FIRST-HALF PROMISE IS A TREND
It wasn’t the first time in the Champions Cup season that an under-strength SA side (it wasn’t a Sharks second team but they were without Eben Etzebeth, Andre Esterhuizen, Jordan Hendrikse, Makazole Mapimpi, Aphelele Fassi and others) showed promise in the first half in an away game.
When the Sharks went to Welford Road in December they were definitely second string, or even third string because of the injuries that had impacted their depth. They were in the game for half an hour before poor Eduan Keyter was victim to a most unfortunate incident.
He did well to rise up to prevent a Tigers penalty from going out in the corner, and tapped the ball back into play. Only it went not into a Sharks hand but a Tigers hand. That try put the Tigers more than a score ahead. After that, like in Bordeaux at a similar stage of the game, there could only be one winner, particularly given the lack of experience in the Sharks side that night.
On the same day the Stormers also had a similar experience. They were fielding a third string side against Harlequins at the Stoop because the much spoken of logistical challenge of playing Champions Cup in England a week before an important home Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby was married to an injury crisis in the squad. Yet up until just before halftime the commentators were talking them up, there was surprise at how well they were doing.
Until they gave away a crucial try much like the one a few weeks later in Paris that turned what would have been a close game at halftime into a 19-6 lead to the home team. Let’s include the Vodacom Bulls in this too. They took a very understrength team away to Castres. Despite that, they were well in the game until deep into the final quarter.
That teams that have to travel across the equator so close to the game might wilt towards the end of contests where they’ve lost the chance of winning shouldn’t really surprise anyone. Particularly when we are talking about inexperienced teams.
YOUNG PLAYERS ARE GROWING THEIR EXPERIENCE
What is my point in listing all of this? Well, if they were all full strength teams we were talking about and they’d been thumped from the outset of those games maybe the sackcloth and ashes indicating mourning would be more justified.
Make no mistake, the SA results in the Champions Cup were embarrassing. Work does need to be done on the depth of all the squads because the aspect of the alignment of local teams to two different overseas competitions that forces so many under-strength teams to be selected, meaning the massive travel obstacle, is not going to change. You can’t play in a European competition without going to Europe.
But the coaches are doing what they need to do given that they generally don’t have the budgets that all the overseas teams do. Forget England’s Owen Farrell being at flyhalf for Racing 92, what really killed the Stormers was the Fijians outside him.
It was Pollard as much as any other Leicester player that destroyed the Sharks in December. Former Stormer Juarno Augustus was arguably the best Northampton Saints player when they beat the Bulls at Loftus, and the Toulon team that won in Gqeberha also had an international flavour.
The local coaches have to create depth from within, and much though these past few weeks have hurt, they are actually doing that. The Stormers managed to score the last try in their humiliation at the Stoop, and in the buildup a youngster named Jonathan Roche featured strongly. The score was completed by 19-year-old JC Mars.
Mars might not be ready for Champions Cup rugby just yet, but he has tasted it and scored a try. We weren’t sure Roche was ready, but he did enough there to earn himself a place as a starter against Sale Sharks, and he started again against Racing. He’s young but he looks like he will grow into this level of rugby.
DE VILLIERS A BIG SUCCESS
Perhaps the biggest success story though for John Dobson was openside flanker Paul de Villiers. He also made his first appearance with a cameo performance against Harlequins. Since then he’s featured off the bench in every game and he’s got better with every game.
It was when he came on against Racing that the Stormers came back into the game and he was very influential. During their Champions Cup campaign, the Stormers have uncovered their like-for-like replacement for Deon Fourie.
I sometimes wonder if he fits the Stormers playing style, and maybe the Bulls should be talking to him, but young Jurie Matthee, who has the physical stature of the legendary Henry Honiball though not the playing style, has also picked up good Champions Cup experience and looks a fine player.
The Sharks have a Galactico first team but there have long been question marks over their depth. Well, while Esterhuizen was undeniably missed, 20-year-old Jurenzo Julius showed flashes of brilliance against both Toulouse and also early in the game against Bordeaux that suggests that in a year’s time when Esterhuizen is injured he won’t be missed as much.
Ditto the equally young fullback Hakeem Kunene, who stood in for Fassi. He made mistakes in both games, but scored a try against Bordeaux and the point is that he has now experienced Champions Cup rugby. And let’s not forget that Ethan Hooker is only 22 and has had a brilliant first full season for the Sharks.
A year ago he was playing behind Bok stars but coach John Plumtree has found place for him on the wing. In time he and Julius will make a brilliant midfield combination. This would have sounded bizarre a year ago, but one of the areas where the Sharks need to buy in players is wing. When Werner Kok left for Ulster it was a big loss.
RAHL WILL BE A BOK
Another young player named Ethan, hooker Ethan Bester, also looks a fine prospect, and he too now has Champions Cup experience. You can also mark these words - Corne Rahl, who played lock in Etzebeth’s absence, will be challenging for a Springbok place two years from now. Maybe even sooner.
The Bulls also have young players who have profited from being part of the team on those occasions the coaches have been forced to go understrength and have a burgeoning pool of young stars like Cameron Hanekom, JF van Heerden etc.
Unfortunately, because of the ridiculous 12-month treadmill that now passes as the SA season, all teams have had an inordinate number of injuries to contend with. Which is why some of the second string teams have actually been third string sides and that certainly distorted the results in December.
But in answer to the questions about what the SA coaches should be doing to make their teams more competitive in the Champions Cup going forward, they are doing it.
There’s a definite second tier of players ready in time to replace the stars coming through in Durban, and the same with the Cape, where for financial reasons the accent on developing the massive reservoir of young gems in the region is possibly more emphasised than at the other franchises.
The results might not indicate it but take a closer look at the individual players who have played in the Champions Cup in understrength teams and you will note that the creation of depth is happening. It’s just that you can’t throw youngsters in and expect them to be an overnight success. It takes time. Young now, stars tomorrow, but it requires patience.