South Africa are the only nation remaining in the Rugby World Cup that takes part in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship so it might mean a difficult first few weeks for the local franchises as they come up against foreign teams that will have their international players back.
Playing against international opponents, particularly those that progressed to the playoff phases of the RWC with Ireland and Wales, should be welcomed though by young South African players who weren’t part of this World Cup but will be hoping to be part of the next global showpiece event in Australia in 2027.
The core of the Springbok team that won the 2019 World Cup in Japan has carried through to the current tournament, but glancing through the biographies of the players who played for them in their exciting win over the hosts in an exciting and tense quarterfinal on Sunday, it brought home that there is going to have to be some change heading into the next four-year cycle.
They’re not all over the hill in age, but there wasn’t a starting member of the Bok pack at the Stade de France who was under the age of 30.
While Duane Vermeulen and Deon Fourie are Boks at this World Cup who are well beyond it, they are considered freaks of nature and you wouldn’t imagine taking an entire pack of players in their mid-30s or beyond that to Australia.
BOKS WILL NEED RENEWAL IN NEXT RWC CYCLE
RG Snyman, who will be looking forward to a full URC season with new champions Munster, is one of the forwards on the bench who should be back for 2027, and so is the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ Ox Nche.
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Both players are 28, while Leicester Tigers’ Jasper Wiese turns that age on the day of South Africa’s semifinal against England.
But there’s going to have to be renewal in the four years before the next World Cup, and that should incentivise players who are considered the next cab off the rank in some positions such as the DHL Stormers’ highly promising No 8 Evan Roos, who was the URC Player of the Year in the inaugural season, his Vodacom Bulls counterpart Elrigh Louw and a couple of others.
Salmaan Moerat, recently installed as the Stormers’ regular captain in place of the departed Steven Kitshoff, who will be in Ulster colours once the World Cup is over, is another who will be hoping to be at the 2027 RWC.
Moerat suffered an unfortunate long-term injury shortly before Christmas last year and would have challenged strongly for this World Cup had it not been the case.
His teammate Joseph Dweba is another who will be looking forward to 2027 as hooker is a position that there will be a gap shortly due to both Bongi Mbonambi and Malcolm Marx being now well beyond 30 and another hooker with international inspirations will be the Bulls’ Cobus Grobbelaar.
ANGRY WARTHOG IS BACK
You never know, there could be a bolter from somewhere else in that position too, someone like young Andre-Hugo Venter, who plays behind Dweba at the Stormers, while the Angry Warthog, as Nick Mallett nicknamed him, Akker van der Merwe, is back in South Africa playing for the Bulls after previously playing for the Emirates Lions and the Hollywoodbets Sharks.
Van der Merwe is too advanced in years to be a 2027 World Cup candidate, but he will add to South Africa’s depth at hooker.
There are a few players in the Bok starting backline who are young enough to be around again in 2027, and all of them (Damian Willemse 25, Manie Libbok 26, Kurt-Lee Arendse 27) should take the experiences they’ve gained at international level and playing at a World Cup back to franchise level when they return to Stormers in Willemse and Libbok’s case and the Bulls in Arendse’s.
Talking of the Bulls, it is going to be interesting to see if their coach Jake White will take the cue from the Springbok coaches by shifting Canan Moodie, just 20 years of age, to centre once all the Boks are back playing in the URC in mid-November.
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SPICY GAMES NEAR START OF COMPETITION
The URC this year certainly isn’t taking any time about getting to the spicy games, with the Sharks now on their way to Ireland, where they will be starting off John Plumtree’s second stint as coach by playing champions Munster on Saturday.
There’s an appetising rematch between the first two URC champion teams, and last year’s finalists, set for Limerick in just a couple of week’s time too, while Leinster are up after Munster for the Sharks.
Leinster, with so many Irish internationals in their ranks and having been embarrassed at club level by unexpectedly losing playoff games (the Heineken Champions Cup final and URC semifinal), should be in a mean mood this season, determined to make a statement, and let’s not forget Bok coach Jacques Nienaber will be with them once the RWC is over.
The Stormers haven’t lost to a fellow South African team in the URC since going down to the Emirates Lions in December 2021 so it is interesting to note they start with a potentially tough away fixture against those opponents in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The Bulls, who along with the Sharks will be determined to close the gap the Stormers have opened in the South African Shield over the last two URC seasons, kick off their campaign against Scarlets in Pretoria on Sunday.
EARLY EXITS MEAN TOUGH STARTS FOR SA TEAMS
With the other four participating nations in the URC - Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy - all now out of the World Cup, and the international players therefore available for their clubs shortly, it will be a tough start for the South African teams, who won’t be expecting their Boks back for several weeks.
It is going to be interesting from a South African perspective to watch the performance of the two Scottish teams, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh, who both now have coaches from this country.
Sean Everitt, formerly the head coach of the Sharks, will be hoping to emulate at Edinburgh what Franco Smith has done after one year with the Warriors.
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WEEKEND VODACOM UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES
Zebre v Ulster (Parma, Saturday 14.00)
Connacht v Ospreys (Galway, Saturday 16.00)
Emirates Lions v DHL Stormers (Johannesburg, Saturday 16.05)
Dragons v Edinburgh (Newport, Saturday 16.05)
Munster v Hollywoodbets Sharks (Limerick, Saturday 18.15)
Cardiff Rugby v Benetton (Cardiff, Saturday 18.15)
Vodacom Bulls v Scarlets (Pretoria, Sunday 15.00)
Glasgow Warriors v Leinster (Glasgow, Sunday 17.00)