Champions Cup preview: Sharks’ turn to test French waters

A few years back you wouldn’t have expected a South African franchise to be playing a key game late on the night of the 16 December public holiday, but that is the reality as the Heineken Champions Cup goes into the second round over the long weekend.

This is traditionally the start of the summer holiday season in South Africa, but it won’t be a holiday for local professional rugby players this year. At least not at franchise level. The Cell C Sharks get the second round going when they visit Bordeaux to face Bordeaux Begles on Friday night, and after their good win over the Harlequins on the opening weekend of the competition, they will be hopeful they can do what the DHL Stormers failed to do by winning on French soil.

It won’t be easy, for while Bordeaux lie a relatively low ninth on the Top 14 log, they are similar to Clermont-Auvergne, who did the business against the Stormers in the second half last week, in that they boast a formidable record at home. The French league is renowned for how difficult it is to win away, and Bordeaux’s home ground of Stade Chaban-Delmas has earned a notoriety for being difficult for visiting teams.

What the Sharks have on their side which maybe the Stormers didn’t have last week, when the Cape side went in without a few key Springboks, is experience across most key positions. Plus of course in skipper Siya Kolisi a leader who is no stranger to leading teams to victory in tough games far away from home.

CAPE TOWN GAME WILL PROVIDE SPECTACLE

With the Vodacom Bulls taking a second string side to their away game against English champions Exeter Chiefs, the Bordeaux game is arguably the pick of this weekend’s fixtures. Saturday night’s clash between the Stormers and London Irish should certainly provide spectacle, as like the Cape team the visitors like to give the ball air and play an attacking brand of rugby.

However, the URC champions, with Marvin Orie and Frans Malherbe, two members of the Bok tight five that dominated England at Twickenham a few weeks ago, back in harness, should be expected to win against a side that has lost four games in the Gallagher Premiership this season. And while the Stormers have dropped two games recently, they have not lost in Cape Town since they lost to the Emirates Lions in early December 2021. In other words, more than a year.

JAKE DOES HAVE A POINT

The Stormers do have more pressure on them than the Sharks do given the importance of winning at home in this competition. It was the lopsided importance of home games that probably helped White’s decision to go understrength to Exeter, with that selection also probably being an acknowledgement that Exeter would anyway have started strong favourites on their home ground.

It will place pressure on the Bulls to beat Exeter when they play the return game in Pretoria in January, but it is an afternoon game and White has probably factored in the advantage given his team by the altitude in hot, summery highveld weather. He probably also knows that if Exeter continue to win their pool games, which they should do, they might well send their second team to South Africa for the return.

White’s argument that the South African teams are up against it in the Champions Cup given that the bulk of the play-off games will be played overseas - the exception being the round of 16 which is over a home and away leg - plus the large disparity in the wage bills between northern teams and South African sides is not without merit.

Indeed, it might even be argued that with this being an exploratory season in Europe for the South African sides, an early exit could even be favourable in that it will make the remaining part of the URC season more manageable. Regardless how far the local sides go in the Champions Cup this year, they still have to finish in the top eight to qualify for next year’s competition.

IRISH TEAMS UNDER PRESSURE

When it comes to the rest of the Champions Cup games, Leinster are flying after their big away win over Racing 92 but their two fellow Irish provinces will join the URC title holders from Cape Town in facing down pressure in the second round.

Away wins are like gold in this competition and Leinster got off to a rollicking away on French soil last week as they banked a full house of five log points against Racing, but for Ulster, who were thrashed by the Sale Sharks, it is backs to the wall time as they host LaRochelle at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.

Their home ground is seen as an Ulster advantage against most teams and it will need to be this week as LaRochelle arrive as the defending Champions Cup champions and were comprehensive winners against Northampton Saints in the first round. There was some fighting talk from Ulster coach Dan McFarland in the buildup to the game, and he argues that it is just small things that his team needs to get right if they want to turn the corner.

Perhaps he is right too, for although Ulster lost to Leinster away in the URC the week prior to the start of the Champions Cup, they dominated the first half at an RDS Arena venue that is not kind to visiting teams. They imploded in the second half of that game, but pushing Leinster, who are unbeaten at the top of the URC log, is not an easy thing to do.

LaRochelle of course thwarted Leinster’s drive to the European title off the last move of a pulsating final in Marseille last season so there’s probably not much separating those two teams. McFarland will also console himself with the knowledge that both his team’s consecutive defeats were away from home.

Munster were at home when they lost to Toulouse last week. Toulouse have a great history in the Champions Cup so they are not a team you should feel ashamed to lose to, and Munster did pick up a losing bonus point. But it was nonetheless a home defeat, which lifts the ante for Munster as they head away to Northampton, where the Saints will be smarting and determined after their big loss to LaRochelle.

There are some other URC teams who were competitive against good sides last week but who are now under pressure. Edinburgh lost by four points away to Saracens, which meant they grabbed the losing bonus point that is almost seen as obligatory for away trips in the group stages. But the Scots will be under pressure as they host Castres, beaten at home by Exeter in the first round, at the DAM Health Stadium. On last week’s form Edinburgh should be confident they can do the job against the French team.

The Welsh URC Shield champions, the Ospreys, lost at home in Swansea to Leicester Tigers last week, so they are under the kosh as they head this week to the south of France for their clash with Montpellier.

In the Challenge Cup, the Emirates Lions have a plum home fixture against mighty Stade Francais to lure people to Emirates Airlines Park on the night of the public holiday, while the Toyota Cheetahs will be hoping to continue their winning form when they face Scarlets. It is a home game for the Cheetahs, but in this competition their home ground is the Zebres’ home ground Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma.

Weekend Heineken Champions Cup fixtures

Bordeaux Begles v Cell C Sharks (Friday, 22.00)

Leinster v Gloucester (Friday, 22.00)

Exeter v Vodacom Bulls (Saturday, 15.00)

Edinburgh v Castres (Saturday, 15.00)

Lyon v Saracens (Saturday, 17.15)

Leicester v Clermont-Auvergne (Saturday, 17.15)

Ulster v LaRochelle (Saturday, 19.30)

DHL Stormers v London Irish (Saturday, 19.30)

Montpellier v Ospreys (Saturday, 22.00)

Toulouse v Sale Sharks (Sunday, 15.00)

Northampton v Munster (Sunday, 15.00)