TALKING POINT: Lots of hypocrisy, but an easy solution

Sometimes it is easy to wonder when there is an overseas knee-jerk reaction to something that happens involving South African rugby whether the people that drive it stop for a second before committing pen to paper to give the topic proper thought.

The reaction in particularly the UK media last week to first Jake White’s comments on the Vodacom Bulls’ travel obstacles and then the selection of his team for the Investec Champions Cup is a case in point.

To be fair, the bile directed at White’s comments, with people saying “Well then don’t participate in a European tournament”, was probably more sourced in social media than in mainstream media platforms. And you can understand why the average European fan might at first glance see it the way they did.

The standing of the competition has always been its status as a vehicle to establish the kings of Europe. And there is no map that shows South Africa as being part of Europe, certainly not one that was drawn up in the post-colonial era. Further to that, European rugby supporters appear to use the competition as an excuse to travel to support their teams.

HARD FOR TRAVELLING FANS TO COME TO SA

Watching on television this past weekend, the vibrancy and colour of the atmosphere at games in Bordeaux, Toulouse and Dublin was a great advert for why South Africans should want to be part of it. At the same time, the atmosphere created by having visiting fans invading your city and your stadiums cannot be replicated in this country because of the travel distances and the cost that entails. That has to be left for a British and Irish Lions tour that happens every 12 years.

So the average Joe who watches rugby and is not paid to keep up with the minutiae of a constantly evolving sport can be forgiven. There’s a lot of information and news to be consumed in a day, and it might require a bit of thought before you see what White was really saying, which to paraphrase him can probably be summed up thus: “If we are going to be part of this competition, let’s do it properly and give our teams a chance of winning.” And that’s fair enough.

But when respected rugby journalists who do get paid to follow the minutiae come out with stories accusing White of disrespecting the tournament by sending a second string team, then there’s only one word to describe it - hypocrisy. The Bulls were in the quarterfinal of the Champions Cup because they hammered a second string Lyon team in the round of 16.

UNDERSTRENGTH TEAMS ARE A MODERN RUGBY REALITY

At this time when there is just so much rugby, and commitment to more than one competition, the fielding of understrength teams is just a reality. Indeed, with La Rochelle being the exception, it is hard to recall when a French team has come to South Africa for a Champions Cup game with a full strength side.

When English club Saracens came to Pretoria to play the Bulls last December it was remarked that they were at full muster for the game, because it was something of a rarity.

Leinster arrive in this country this week to play two Vodacom United Rugby Championship games. If they bring a full strength squad, it will be the first time in a competition that is now into its third season that they do so. The reason they have gone under-strength in previous seasons is because of their focus on the Champions Cup. Their tours here have generally been at the stage of the season where the Champions Cup has been in the knockout phase.

Participating in two competitions is challenging and given that just being in the Champions Cup depends on how you do in your domestic league, in SA’s case the URC, and you just have to ask the Sharks about this, many teams do get to a point of the season where they have to decide which one to focus on.

The Sharks are out of the URC race and winning the Challenge Cup is their only route into next season’s Champions Cup. So they are throwing the Full Metal Jacket at the Challenge Cup, but don’t expect to see the top Sharks players in action when they play Glasgow Warriors at the Scotstoun on Friday. If they are going to be ready for their Challenge Cup semifinal against Clermont Auvergne two weeks later, there are players who need a rest.

The Bulls’ drive for a top two finish in the URC would have been negatively impacted had they returned with their top team from the Champions Cup quarterfinal only a few days before Saturday’s crucial game against Munster. Ditto the Stormers had it been them that played Leinster in Dublin this past weekend and not La Rochelle.

The French Top 14 is a cut-throat competition in the sense that two teams get relegated each year, so sometimes their selections for Champions Cup games and Challenge Cup games, particularly the away ones, are a joke. Everything appears to hinge on how comfortable they are in the Top 14 when the European Cup phase of the season arrives.

SA PARTICIPATION CAN BE HELPED BY SCHEDULING

Given all of this, where do people who should be aware of all of this get off slamming the Bulls for sending an under-strength team? As Stormers assistant coach Dawie Snyman said on Monday, the aim is to build the depth that will make it easier to compete in both competitions. Although it helped the Stormers’ URC campaign that La Rochelle knocked them out in the round of 16, and they will be able to field a refreshed team against the Ospreys on Saturday, they aren’t happy to have exited when they did. They’d like to have gone further, and that is the aim next year.

But the South African challenge in the competition needs to be helped by more sensitivity to the logistical problems the teams from this country face. And fortunately that appears to be happening, with the competition organisers, who are more aware of what South African participation has brought to the Champions Cup in terms of extra eyes and engagement, reportedly set to make some changes next season.

One of those changes is an obvious one - the round of 16 game should not be played just one week before the blockbusting quarterfinals. Apart from the difficulties related to travel that come about by not knowing at the start of a weekend whether next week you will be going to a different hemisphere or staying at home, the clubs hosting a quarterfinal should be given more time to prepare for and sell a big game.

That will help not just the host club, but also the visiting teams. The Bulls didn’t put up much of a fight at Franklin Gardens, but they did return to South Africa richer as their franchise pocketed 50 per cent of the gate money.

This is an easy solution to the problems that beset this stage of the competition, but there are others that can be made, such as when it comes to South African teams, being aware in the scheduling of pool matches where those teams may be the week before in their URC campaign.

If the Bulls are for instance playing the Dragons in Wales the week before the first Champions Cup game, it is easy for them to stick around for another week to play Harlequins, for instance, at the Stoop. It is far preferable to flying home to play a Champions Cup game and then back overseas the following week for the second game, as sometimes happens now.

Like with most problems, there are solutions if you apply minds to it, but one thing appears certain, and it is something the overseas critics are going to have to get used to - all indications from the Champions Cup headquarters is that the South African participation is here to stay.

And once SA Rugby becomes full shareholders, which subject to certain conditions will happen in the next year as this country completes the payment that was required, they will have more say in how the competition is run. The SA participation will also be set in stone.