Dowson crowing over positive SA experience

The debate regarding the results of South African sides in the Investec Champions’ Cup may be a big thing at the moment, but the one coach who isn’t jumping on the bandwagon of criticising the inclusion in Europe is Northampton Saints coach Phil Dowson.

Dowson was complimentary about the side’s trip to Loftus Versfeld after their 30-21 win over the Vodacom Bulls on Saturday and certainly isn’t buying into the negativity that seems to be fuelling the debate.

“If you'd heard that change room afterwards, you would know how worthwhile it was,” Dowson smiled and said after being asked.

“South Africa being world champions, with the heritage that this stadium has, players want to play against the best players, they want to play against the best teams, they want to play in the best stadiums.

“They get excited by that, and they've seen it on TV, and then they get to come here. Travel is an issue, and I think we've tried to manage the week this week.

“So getting back into the British system, the British weather, we're still quite new to this as well. So we've asked Leinster, we've asked Glasgow for advice in terms of how they've dealt with it in the past.

“I think it's a learning curve, but I think, from my point of view and from the players' point of view, the experience of coming out here is tops. From a team-building point of view, the experience of playing against some of the best players and some of the best teams in the world.

“And there's some guys in our squad who've never flown further than Europe. We went on the safari Wednesday morning, and it was a great experience for the individuals. I don't think we should lose that either in terms of people seeing the world and learning different things.”

Those experiences were the highlight for the Saints as they embraced the journey and came out smiling. Yet, from a South African point of view, it was a bleak weekend where none of the local teams came out with a victory.

All three South African franchises lost to English counterparts, and while under-strength Hollywoodbets Sharks and DHL Stormers teams were expected to lose given their high injury count, the Loftus result was a shock.

For the Bulls, it was a frustrating game, as they had three tries disallowed, and had 64 per cent possession and 67 per cent territory, but could only blame themselves for their defeat.

Afterwards coach Jake White said his side were still coming to terms with the fact that the Investec Champions’ Cup is “test rugby in club jerseys.”

“This is test rugby in club or provincial jerseys and when you make a mistake at test level you are made to pay for it,” White said after the game.

“Look at what happened, we had a penalty just before halftime and it is our lineout, they chuck it over and get seven points. This is what happens when you play at the highest level and against some of the best players.

“It is not something they are struggling to grasp, it is something they don’t appreciate because they have not been under that sort of pressure every week. When you put many guys who have played many minutes of test rugby together, that’s the kind of pressure you have to cope with.”

Perhaps the starkest reminder of the quality available came later on Sunday when Toulouse put 60 on Exeter away from home. South African sides certainly have their work cut out for them in terms of player management and results in the Champions’ Cup, and have a lot of ground to make up.

But the idea that all of it is negative, is simply wrong, and Dowson’s comments underline that.