SA and Ireland profit from resounding URC success story

The predictable Queen song that rung out over the scenes of celebration for the DHL Stormers and their supporters in Cape Town at the weekend features the words “no time for losers”, but this was certainly not an occasion when only the champions were winners.

That the inaugural Vodacom United Rugby Championship final was contested by two local teams was of course a huge win for South African rugby, and for more than just the obvious bragging rights and the respect from overseas that it brings. And that it was not contested this time by teams from Ireland can be seen as indirectly a win for rugby in that country and, more directly, a win for the competition. That might sound like contorted thinking, but it will be explained.

The overseas television viewership figures for the final will tell the URC bosses whether any little concern they may have had that the Stormers playing the Bulls in the decider would mean a big dent in interest in Ireland, Wales and Scotland was justified. Those concerns, if there were any, would in any case be overshadowed by the way the business end ensured a belated but proper landing for the competition in South Africa.

That wasn’t something that was happening in the initial stages of the competition. It was always going to be a challenge for all sports to restart after severe lockdown periods and other uncertainties wrought by the pandemic. But to start a new competition, featuring teams that South African fans weren’t that familiar with in comparison with the ones they saw regularly in the Super Rugby era at that time brought even extra challenges.

EXODUS HASN’T DENTED FRANCHISE POTENTIAL

Professional rugby at regional level was also under threat post-Covid, not just because of the disruption brought by the pandemic and the loss of match day revenue, but also because of the perception that the game at that level has been irreparably harmed by the exodus of star players to overseas.

But that point introduces one of the biggest plus points for South Africans to boast about, which is that two South African teams made the final at a time when a big proportion of the national squad is made up of overseas based players. There were several players from both teams in the current Bok squad, but if the number of players from the teams that contested the final who make the match day 23 for the first test against Wales numbers more than the fingers on one hand, it would come as a major surprise.

That is a departure from the years when the Bulls won Super Rugby (2007, 2009 and 2010), in the sense that back then the Bulls featured virtually the spine of the Bok starting team. After the 2007 final in Durban, one of the then Bok coach Jake White’s immediate challenges at the start of his national camp was to get the Bulls and Sharks players, who made up 90 per cent of his squad, to see each other as teammates again. Apparently, the Bulls, who won that final, played their part in facilitating that by exhibiting great humility afterwards.

Jacques Nienaber wouldn’t have had any problems though when the Stormers and Bulls players arrived in camp on Sunday, the day after their tightly fought URC final, because they number just a small part of his group.

LESSONS FOR IRELAND

That is not the case when it comes to the Ireland squad that is about to tour New Zealand. Almost all of their players play in the URC, with a significant proportion of the first choice playing squad made up of players from the Leinster team that was so comprehensively beaten by the Bulls in their semifinal.

So that they weren’t able to get a team into the final and the competition was so dominated by South Africans in the last weeks, has to be a concern for Ireland. That concern though will be accompanied by the positive aspect the Irish have always seen in having South Africa in the competition - they have been given a wakeup call about the improvements necessary to compete. And it is understood that already there are questions being asked by some of the impacted Irish coaching teams about whether the campaign management they always thought was spot on, might need an overhaul.

For most of the early months of the competition, the narrative was run by the theme that South Africa could learn from Ireland. Even as recently as a month ago local pundits were praising Leinster for their squad depth and their ability to balance their URC challenge with their quest for Champions Cup glory.

But just lately, because of how Leinster came short against the Bulls and Ulster’s inability to back up in Cape Town what they did in the quarterfinal against Munster, the tendency of not just Leinster, but all Irish teams, to rotate selections on an almost weekly basis is being questioned.

The penny appears to be dropping in Irish rugby that the nation’s failure to advance beyond the quarterfinals of any Rugby World Cup may come down to their players not being conditioned to be part of the seven tough games in relatively quick succession that it takes to win the Webb Ellis trophy. And the fact they never face that kind of workload at clubs that manage them almost too much, is now starting to be blamed.

So it is reasonable to assume we might see less of the Irish province alternative teams next year, with the first choice players playing more games and picking up a bigger workload. Certainly, it is hard to see Leinster, after their wake-up call against the Bulls, ever sending a weakened squad to South Africa again. The Stormers and Sharks will play Leinster away in league play next season, and they can expect to come up against a full-strength Leinster team.

That Leinster may be forced into a rethink will be welcomed by Irish rugby people not attached to that team, for there was a perception in Ireland that Leinster were winning too easily and not being challenged. The South African inclusion has added the necessary jeopardy that makes a sports competition watchable.

STILL OVERSEAS FRONTIERS FOR SA TEAMS TO CONQUER

For South Africa there are also learnings to absorb and improvements to be made, and while the last few matches played overseas saw much improved performances from the local teams, it needs to be noted that it is now spring going into summer in the UK, Ireland and Italy. The big challenge of playing a clutch of games in those places in the depth of winter is one that still awaits the South African teams.

But that the South African challenge, which for a long time in the early weeks saw the four teams in the bottom six of the competition, ended the way it did has to be seen as a major triumph.

SHARKS NOT AS BAD AS MADE OUT

Let’s not forget that while the Sharks appear to be being criticised for poor performance, they finished fifth, as a third South African team in the top five, and it was only really the aberration against Edinburgh in Durban that prevented them from challenging for the Stormers’ place as Shield winners and overall log runners-up.

The Sharks are the franchise with the big money at present, so they have the resources to build a winning squad. They just need to be more accurate in the science of recruiting than they have been in recent times, and no prizes for guessing that the troublesome flyhalf position is the aspect being referenced here.

It is true that money can buy you players but can’t buy you culture, and it is probably stating the obvious to suggest that the Durban franchise should learn from their coastal rivals from Cape Town in that regard. For my money, there has been too little attention paid since changes started to happen at the Sharks on what Sean Everitt was initially working with as he brought his age-group players through into a culture that engineered the Sharks to a top of the log position in the aborted 2020 Super Rugby season. Contracting poster boys is good business for a professional franchise but they’d be making the same mistakes Manchester United do with their American owners if they failed to recognise that those star players need to fit the pattern and the culture.

PERCEPTION OF FINANCIAL CLOUT INCREASES SCRUTINY

It is because the Sharks have the money and also the bulk of the current group of locally based Bok squad members that there is so much scrutiny on them. There have been times this season where some people involved at the Sharks have asked why there appears to be extra media scrutiny on them, but it comes with the territory when you make show of they money you have and the acquisitions that come from it.

The Sharks should be better next year, when we should also expect the overseas challenge to be stronger too now that the other contending teams know what they are up against and are hatching ideas on how to confront the challenges that were new to them this year.

The Bulls should be in contention again next year too because they have the depth of squad and, in Jake White, they do have a coach who knows how to win, this past weekend’s result notwithstanding. Where the Bulls should come under pressure going forward though is their management of reaching transformation objectives. Having just three black players in the starting team for major games just shouldn’t be acceptable when the Sharks and the Stormers managed nine or 10 in many of their games. For the final, the Stormers had 13 black players in their squad of 23, and the noticeably multiracial support base of the Stormers, best shown by some of the social media clips of the celebrations after Manie Libbok won the semifinal with his conversion kick, is not just coincidental.

STORMERS REPEAT DEPENDS ON FINANCIAL WINDFALL

Whether those supporters will get to celebrate again next year depends a lot on whether Western Province can finalise an equity deal, and whether whoever the new equity partners will be have the necessary feel for the game. Some due diligence is necessary on that last point.

The Stormers have profited this past season by for once having relatively calm waters above them, thanks mainly to the SARU administration of the union and the presence of a calm, capable and efficient temporary (many would say he should become permanent) CEO in Rian Oberholzer running the show.

For once rugby is the only focus of the Stormers players and management, who are dealing with less interference from above, although their coach John Dobson, a big player in the Stormers success, also helps in that regard with his good upwards management.

However, winning a competition like the URC does create expectation as well as an appetite from stakeholders for more success, so next season is going to be a highly challenging one for the inaugural champions. Of the SA top three, they have the smallest squad due to their lack of financial muscle, and that needs to change if they are going to be able to maintain a challenge in both the URC and the Champions Cup.

One of the secrets of the current Stormers’ success has been the way injuries have had much less of a say than they did for past Stormers coaches. Maybe smarter training has something to do with that, and the game-plan now also requires less potentially attritional physicality, but the fact there were so many gaps in the URC season because of Covid and non-participation in the other European competitions was the main reason for the relatively free injury slate.

Next year there will be more player management and team replacement required, and it is hard to see the Stormers being able to get through both a URC and Champions Cup campaign successfully without an expanded squad. A quality replacement is lined up for the departing Warrick Gelant, but Dobson might also have to look at his centre depth now that Rikus Pretorius is heading for Japan.

LIONS MUST SPEND THEIR MONEY MORE

If money is the Stormers’ problem, it might be an even bigger one for the Emirates Lions, at least in the sense that they need to spend more of the money they do have and not be quite as reliant on their youth policy for future success as they appear to be.

The in the end could be said to have had a middling season given the expectations. They struggled in all the South African derbies with the exception of a shock win over the Stormers in December, but they proved difficult for the overseas teams to play against in Johannesburg.

But some of their best players, such as Vincent Tshituka, skipper Burger Odendaal and Carlu Sadie, are leaving, and it is understood more are likely to follow them. They will profit from the acquisition of some Sharks players considered surplus to the Durban requirements, but it is going to take a long time for the Lions to profit from the aggressive youth policy they appear to be banking on for their future and they need experienced players to guide the youngsters.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR SA RUGBY TOO

Of course, it is not just the franchises, but the national administrators, who have a few things to think about at the end of this mostly successful first season of URC. On the positive side, the way the 2021/22 edition played out did help rescue the franchise level of the local game by inspiring connection between teams and fans. Some find it odious, but it is good to have the tribalism back too. It is what drives local rugby and the game at franchise level wouldn’t survive without it. And South African rugby as a whole cannot survive just on the Springboks.

On the negative side, playing the Currie Cup at the same time as the URC, and having the second-string teams from the four URC franchises involved, didn’t work. Bulls Currie Cup coach Gert Smal is right when he says the old trophy should be put in a museum after Griquas and the Pumas play for it this weekend.

A new competition just for the 10 provinces not involved in the URC should take its place, and the winner incentivised by inclusion in the following season’s European Challenge Cup. The Cheetahs are invited for next season’s Challenge Cup, but in future it should be for whoever wins the 10-team domestic competition, regardless of what that competition is called. Whether that happens to be the Cheetahs or not is totally up to them and their form.

Expecting the Bulls, WP, Sharks and Lions to be able to do well in their respective overseas competitions next year while also committed to the Currie Cup is just not sustainable. It was hard enough balancing it for all the franchises this season - and yes that now includes the Bulls after this past weekend - without it being an extra burden when the Champions Cup is added to the menu from this coming December.

Champions Cup? Now there’s something to look forward to. Let the good times continue to roll…