It was the Vodacom Bulls who made the biggest statement of a great Investec Champions Cup weekend for South African rugby but it is the DHL Stormers who have it in their own hands as we head into a final round of pool games where home advantage in the round of 16 is on the line.
Before the weekend it appeared that the Stormers should be hoping that Leicester Tigers managed to upset La Rochelle on their home ground. Thanks to Saturday’s games, and the Stormers’ bonus point win over Sale Sharks in Cape Town, it was the exact opposite, and sure enough La Rochelle’s big win in the penultimate game of an absorbing weekend of wall to wall European action lifted the Stormers from third to second in Pool 4 by the end of the round.
That came about because the two teams, the Leicester Tigers and the Stormers, were level on points before the Tigers played late on Sunday but the Tigers were ahead on points difference. La Rochelle’s big win not only denied the Tigers a bonus point, it also messed up the English team’s points differential, meaning it is the Stormers in the pound seats heading into the final round of the pool phase.
There are those who say the current format of the Champions Cup early rounds is too complicated, but it is anything but complicated. There are four pools of 16, the top four in each pool go through to the round of 16, and the top two in each pool have home ground advantage as they play their first playoff games against the bottom teams in the other pools.
WIN WILL BE ENOUGH TO CLINCH SECOND FOR STORMERS
So if the Stormers hold onto second place in the final round, they will host their first playoff game in April. Beating Stade Francais in Paris will almost assure them of home advantage in the round of 16 as Leicester, albeit they are playing at home at Welford Road, face a tough last game in the form of Leinster.
The Tigers don’t boast a great record against the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log leaders, with whom they’ve developed a great Champions Cup rivalry over the years. And if the Stormers win in Paris, it will mean Leicester have to not only win, they need to do so with a bonus point due to the points differential now being in the Stormers’ favour.
Of course, it won’t be easy for the Stormers, who haven’t won overseas since they beat the now defunct London Irish 28-14 in Brentford in the Champions Cup this time last year. For the Bulls, who were outstanding in outplaying Bristol Bears in England, this week’s task is easier - they will at least be playing the high flying Bordeaux Begles at Loftus, where they will have altitude on their side.
But unlike the Stormers, the Bulls don’t exactly have it in their own hands in the quest for home advantage in the round of 16, as they are third in Pool 1, two points behind the second placed Lyon, who edged an understrength Bulls team at home before Christmas.
Bordeaux are at the top of the pool and with a five point advantage on the Bulls aren’t catchable by the Pretoria team due to a massively superior points differential. Or put it this way, the Bulls will have to win by a minimum of 71 points, which isn’t going to happen against one of the form teams in Europe.
But a Bulls win in Pretoria is certainly highly likely given that the Bulls are unbeaten at Loftus in the Champions Cup, and also that Bordeaux will probably feel it is job done for them after their big win over Saracens in the last game of a weekend that confirmed Bordeaux as among the favourites for the competition along with the Toulouse, Leinster and, just on the evidence of their annihilation of Leicester, the champions La Rochelle.
BULLS WILL BE RELYING ON SARACENS
The Bulls will be hoping that Saracens can pick themselves up and produce a good home performance against Lyon next week as that is what the Bulls will be relying on if they want that much coveted home advantage in April.
It was a weekend where the favoured teams were in imperious form, and the Bulls can be counted in that number after a game where the scoreline flattered Bristol and served as a statement not just about the Bulls’ ability to win away but also made waves in Europe on behalf of South African rugby.
The Stormers did win against Sale but that was a home game against a team that, while definitely not second string, was without several star players because of injury. The absence of the likes of George Ford, Manu Tuilagi and a phalanx of South Africans that include the Du Preez twins, Dan and Jean-Luc, meant that Sale set up negatively, and their determination to stop the Stormers playing by attacking the breakdowns was partially successful.
We say partially because the Stormers did score four tries, and in the process gave an indication that their bling might be returning. Certainly the final Stormers try, the second to be dotted down by Leolin Zas, was vintage Stormers of the previous two seasons where they made the URC final and won it once.
DOBSON RIGHT TO BE FRUSTRATED
However, Stormers coach John Dobson n was frustrated afterwards at his team’s generosity in allowing Sale to leave with a losing bonus point that should never have been possible for them. Zas’ little brain far on his own line, where he pretty much handed the ball to an opponent, was as close to the equivalent of soccer’s own goal as you can get and it presented Sale with a point that could prove crucial should the Stormers and Leicester Tigers both lose next weekend.
Had the Stormers finished, as they should have done, as winners by more than seven points, Sale would have five points to make up in the final game, but now they have four, which gives them just a glimmer of opportunity.
What saves the Stormers from the potential of that mistake making them vulnerable to dropping out of the top four is the fact that Sale and La Rochelle play each other this weekend. Even though the game is being played at Sale’s base in Manchester, it is hard to see anyone beating La Rochelle on the form they showed this past Sunday against Leicester. And the winner of the game will cancel the other out.
The only scenario that could see the Stormers drop out of the top four is if they get nothing out of their trip to Paris and Sale beat La Rochelle but allow them to somehow get two bonus points in defeat. It is a possibility, which was why Dobson was fuming on Saturday night, because had the game ended with the Stormers on five points and Sale on zero, a top 16 place would be a done deal.
PRETORIA TEAM WAS VASTLY SUPERIOR
But it is in the Stormers’ hands, and the Bulls should fancy their chances too. From the off in their game against Bristol it was obvious there was a huge chasm between the teams. Not only was the Bulls’ power game too strong for Bristol, they were also much quicker and played at a better tempo that left their opponents floundering.
Had the Bulls hit 50 in the game it would not have been a false reflection of a game that might just be the biggest Champions Cup statement made by a South African team the season. The Stormers’ win over La Rochelle in December was huge, but for the purposes of making Europeans notice that South African sides are a threat in their competition, it is the wins that are scored in their own backyard that draw the most attention.
The Bulls were pretty imperious for most of the game when they smashed Saracens in Pretoria at the start of the competition and they were undermanned when they lost narrowly to Lyon, so the Bulls have already made a much bigger fist of their European quest than they did last season.
They will be favourites to finish second even though they are outside that bracket currently in Pool 1, and no team will fancy having to travel to Pretoria for a playoff game.
SHARKS GO TOP OF THEIR POOL
In the Challenge Cup this weekend it was only the Sharks among the South African teams, with their workmanlike win over a poor Oyonnax team at Hollywoodbets Kings Park putting them top of their group, who won. The Cheetahs surrendered their right to top spot when they lost to Pau in an entertaining game in Amsterdam on Sunday.
The Emirates Lions lost to Montpellier on Saturday night but in the process of losing 13-3 they made a massive statement about the continued rise of that franchise as they fielded a second string team. Clearly there’s more depth available to the Johannesburg team than many of us thought.
POINTS SITUATION IN POOL 1 OF CHAMPIONS CUP
Leinster 14
DHL Stormers 9
Leicester Tigers 9
La Rochelle 7
Sale Sharks 5
Stormers have better points differential so a win over Stade Francais will clinch second.
WEEKEND INVESTEC CHAMPIONS CUP RESULTS
Northampton Saints 61 Bayonne 14
Exeter Chiefs 19 Glasgow Warriors 17
Lyon 34 Connacht 20
Bristol 17 Vodacom Bulls 31
Toulon 18 Munster 29
DHL Stormers 31 Sale Sharks 24
Leinster 43 Stade Francais 7
Ulster 24 Toulouse 48
Cardiff Rugby 15 Harlequins 54
Bath 29 Racing 92 25
La Rochelle 45 Leicester Tigers 12
Bordeaux Begles 55 Saracens 15
EPCR CHALLENGE CUP
Newcastle Falcons 18 Benetton 57
Ospreys 25 Perpignan 3
Hollywoodbets Sharks 38 Oyonnax 7
Clermont Auvergne 38 Scarlets 17
Castres 28 Black Lion 6
Zebre 20 Dragons 17
Edinburgh 20 Gloucester 21
Montpellier 13 Emirates Lions 3
Toyota Cheetahs 20 Pau 33