The promises from the coaches of the DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls that they will be going all out in their quest to make the Investec Champions Cup quarterfinals is great news for those who are concerned at the lack of impact South Africa has made in the elite European competition.
The Stormers travel to France this week to face Toulon in what will be their third round of 16 tie in the Champions Cup. They’ve made the quarterfinal once, when they beat Harlequins at home in their round of 16 game and then got outplayed by Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park, and were beaten narrowly in Cape Town by La Rochelle the following season.
Last year they failed to get out of their group, with the other two SA teams in the Champions Cup, the Bulls and Hollywoodbets Sharks, having to drop to the Challenge Cup.
The Bulls didn’t fare much better in the group stage of the Champions Cup this year than they did last year but were fortunate to be in a group where performances of the also-rans were also mediocre so they were thrown a lifeline.
They will be bidding for their second appearance in a Champions Cup quarterfinal when they play Glasgow Warriors at the Scotstoun straight after the Stormers game in Toulon. The Bulls could get some extra motivation if the Stormers win in Toulon for the two South African teams will face each other in Cape Town in the quarterfinal round should they both win.
It may seem unlikely, but it is a carrot, and no doubt might have played some role in both coaches announcing after their URC wins this weekend that they are going all in for EPCR success.
‘RELEGATED’ SHARKS FACE A QUANDARY
The Sharks have been forced to make the drop to the secondary competition again this year, and it will be interesting to see how their coach JP Pietersen treats Friday night’s Challenge Cup round of 16 clash with Connacht.
Winning that competition will require them to spend a lot of time on the road to do it, and that could complicate their quest to close the seven point gap currently between themselves and the eighth placed team (the Bulls) on the Vodacom URC log.
There are financial implications to missing out on Champions Cup rugby next season in terms of what it does to the selling of season tickets, and the Sharks also have aspirations to be part of the World Club Cup in a few years hence.
Missing out on Champions Cup now will hurt, particularly with their expensive and star-loaded squad, but what is the easiest route to securing Champions Cup rugby - doing it the way they did it by winning the Challenge Cup, like they did in 2024, or going all in for the URC?
Pietersen told the media in a zoom link-up with the Sharks management 10 days ago that he would not be going understrength to Galway, but winning in Galway against a Connacht team that has hit some form under Stuart Lancaster, and is particularly tough at home, won’t be easy.
On the face of it the two coaches still in the Champions Cup face less of a quandary, but the reality is different. Well, less so for the Bulls, because if they win next week and the Stormers lose to commit them to an overseas quarterfinal, they at least won’t be compromising their URC challenge.
They are due to play in Wales the week after the quarterfinals, so it makes sense for Ackermann to take a full strength squad and stick with it overseas across both competitions should they get to the last eight in the Champions Cup.
For the Stormers it is different. The week after the quarterfinal they face Connacht in the URC and then play their big potential URC log decider against Glasgow. Both those games are in Cape Town, so the Stormers might be compromised if they play a quarterfinal in the northern hemisphere.
DOBSON WANTS TO RESPECT COMPETITION
But that has not impacted on Dobson’s thinking, at least not according to what he said after his team’s error-ridden 33-14 URC win over Edinburgh at the weekend.
“We want to respect the competition and we want to go as far as we can. No South African team has made the semifinal, so that’s something we are aware of,” said the Stormers director of rugby.
He is right, but he will also know that the extra time spent overseas if they do get as far as a semifinal and their quarterfinal is not in Cape Town against the Bulls will surely compromise his URC challenge.
The Stormers lost an important game against Munster in Cape Town a week after losing their quarterfinal to Exeter the other side of the equator the week before so he has experience of the logistic challenge of playing in two competitions rebounding on his team at the business end.
OPPORTUNITY FOR DRY RUN FOR FUTURE URC AWAY FIXTURES
There are gains though to be had if they go all out that exceed just the obvious pride that will come if they do make a semifinal.
The Stormers desperately need to fine-tune their game ahead of a tough run in that sees them host Glasgow before facing top eight URC contenders Ulster and Cardiff overseas in their last league games and getting it together away against a tough Toulon outfit at an inhospitable venue for visiting teams will be a great dry run for what is to come then.
It is the same for the Bulls. There is a fair chance that if they make the top eight in the URC that they will be travelling to Glasgow for their quarterfinal.
So a good performance at the Scotstoun will be good preparation for a possible knock-out fixture at the same venue two months from now.
SA team EPCR commitments this weekend:
Investec Champions Cup round of 16
Toulon v DHL Stormers (Toulon, Saturday 4pm)
Glasgow Warriors v Vodacom Bulls (Glasgow, Saturday 6:30pm)
EPCR Challenge Cup round of 16
Connacht v Hollywoodbets Sharks (Galway, Friday 9pm)