URC RETURNS: Leinster in a league above SA teams

The Challenge Cup is not where the South African teams would want to be when it comes to EPCR competitions but the Vodacom Bulls’ exit at the quarterfinal stage has considerably lengthened any chance of local silverware this season.

As the Challenge Cup is secondary to the Investec Champions Cup, and is effectively a Plate competition for teams not good enough to compete for the main prize, the Bulls arguably didn’t miss out on much through the slow start that cost them the result they were looking for against Edinburgh.

The Hollywoodbets Sharks pretty much summed up what they thought of the experience of winning that competition when they showed little appetite to defend their trophy when they went significantly under-strength for their round of 16 game in Lyon. They got the result that was anticipated.

The Sharks made it clear their focus this time around was winning the biggest trophy available to them after their exit from the Champions Cup in January - the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

It is tempting to suggest that both the Sharks and Bulls have been helped in the quest for silverware by their respective exits from the Challenge Cup, a title the Sharks didn’t need this year because they should comfortably finish in the URC top eight to qualify for the elite Champions Cup the more accepted way.

REALITY CALL

However, those who watched Leinster annihilate Glasgow Warriors in their Champions Cup quarterfinal in Dublin on Friday night might agree that this was not only a weekend where we saw South Africa’s embarrassing EPCR season come to an end, it was also a reality call in terms of any chances of success in the URC.

Leinster have made many teams look second rate, and they did that to Glasgow, racing into a more than 30 point lead in the first half. This though was Glasgow, not a second rate team. Franco Smith’s men are currently second on the URC log behind Leinster and thus the Irish province’s most serious challenger in that competition.

Leinster have fallen short at the playoff stage of the Champions Cup and URC in all three seasons of the URC’s existence, but somehow a Leinster blowout looks so much less likely this year. For a start their position at the top of the URC means they won’t have to travel to play knock-out games, so there will be no Bulls ambush at Loftus waiting for them this time.

One of the South African teams managing to win away against Leinster seems far-fetched if you consider how much trouble the Leinster second stringers gave both the Bulls and Sharks on their recent URC tour. If the Sharks can’t beat the Leinster B team at home, and the Bulls had to dig deep at Loftus before winning the game with a late penalty, then what chance they can do it against their full strength team in Dublin.

And if Leinster beat Glasgow, the reigning champions, by a margin of more than 50 points, and they were so totally dominant in that first half, then the chances of their road to the title being blocked this time seem remote. The Challenge Cup might not rank near the URC in terms of gravitas, but it might have been the only trophy the SA teams had a realistic chance of competing for in the 2024/2025 term.

The chances of an unexpected implosion of the sort they experienced in the three URC seasons played so far may well depend on how their Champions Cup campaign turns out. When the Bulls shocked them at the RDS Arena in the semifinal of the first edition of the URC, they were recovering from the hangover of having lost the Champions Cup decider to LaRochelle in Marseille off the last move of the game.

If a similar thing happens to Leinster this year they could be vulnerable when the URC Finals Series starts a week after the main European final. In fact, a win in the Champions Cup final, with the celebrations that should follow, could make them equally vulnerable.

The point though is that the URC, given the yawning chasm that Leinster showed there is between first place and second place currently, is Leinster’s to lose. It is going to require a mistake on their part.

MIXED FEELINGS FOR BULLS OVER DUBLIN RESULT

The Bulls might have had mixed feelings though about what they saw happening in Dublin. They play Glasgow at Scotstoun in their next game after Saturday’s big away clash with 2023 champions Munster in Limerick. A chastening defeat like the one Glasgow suffered to Leinster, and they were significantly outclassed, can have a dramatic impact on confidence. It is just possible that the Dublin result in a different competition has created a small window of opportunity for their crunch URC game.

The Bulls will be joined on the road at the start of the final sequence of four league games by the Sharks, who are in Edinburgh on Friday night. The result against the Bulls will have inspired confidence in Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt in his team’s ability to win against his old team. Thereafter the Sharks go to Ulster, which is another tough game. So it will be a critical two games for both the chief SA challengers in the URC.

The Stormers will join the Lions in starting a home sequence that they hope will propel them into a comfortable position in the top eight, starting with dangerous Connacht on Saturday. The Lions will be at home against a Benetton team that is in the mix for the top eight and which should have been emboldened by their encouraging performance in the Champions Cup. They certainly went a lot further than any South African team did in the premier EPCR competition this year.

Investec Champions Cup quarterfinal results

Leinster 52 Glasgow Warriors 0

Bordeaux Begles 47 Munster 29

Northampton Saints 51 Castres 18

Toulon 18 Toulouse 21

Investec Champions Cup semifinals

Leinster v Northampton Saints (3 May, 18,30)

Bordeaux-Begles v Toulouse (4 May, 16.00)

Vodacom United Rugby Championship round 15 fixtures

Edinburgh v Hollywoodbets Sharks (Edinburgh, Friday 20.35)

Emirates Lions v Benetton (Johannesburg, Saturday 13.45)

DHL Stormers v Connacht (Cape Town, Saturday 16.00)