The English media is understandably perplexed after the first round of the Investec Champions Cup over the poor performances of the Gallagher Premiership teams and here in South Africa we should be swaying in the opposite direction after a highly promising opening round.
The reasons for the English consternation first. Gloucester’s draw with champions Bordeaux-Begles in the opening game of the competition on Friday night was a great note to start on, but it was all downhill for the English from there. Only one of their eight teams in the Champions Cup won.
That was Northampton Saints, who judging by the 28-12 scoreline did no more than should have been expected of them in a home game against Cardiff. Saints topped the Premiership log last season, Cardiff finished sixth in the Vodacom URC. Cardiff are tough on their home 4G surface at Cardiff Arms Park, but they were thrashed 44-21 when they had to travel to play their quarterfinal against the DHL Stormers.
So that solitary win by an English team wasn’t one to crow about, although the draw at Gloucester and Exeter Chiefs losing by just three points does counter-balance it a bit. You wouldn’t have expected those teams to come so close to the French giants last season.
A PROMISING START FOR SA
Now the South African perspective. The pall cast by the sad and sudden passing of 10Bet Lions lock Hyron Andrews notwithstanding, there was some reason for positivity on the local front after the first round of both the Champions Cup and the secondary EPCR competition, the Challenge Cup. Certainly there’s much more ambition in the air than there was after all the local teams lost their opening games the season before last.
It was only the Challenge Cup but the Hollywoodbets Sharks scored an outstanding win in Lyon with a young team, and the Toyota Cheetahs lost by only two points in Bayonne. Considering the Cheetahs never made the final of the Carling Currie Cup and some think that Suzuki Griquas should be in the Challenge Cup ahead of them, that’s an interesting indicator of how deep South African rugby depth may go right now.
And then there was the elite competition itself. The Stormers and the Vodacom Bulls won comfortably at home and picked up full points against rated teams in the form of Bristol Bears and Stade Francais respectively. The Lions were given very long odds away against two time European champions La Rochelle but didn’t do badly on what for obvious reasons was an emotional night for them.
CONNACHT JOINED THE URC STATEMENT MAKING
It wasn’t just SA teams that had a good weekend in the Champions Cup, there were also some statement performances from our rivals in the URC that should be seen as a boost for that competition. URC champions Leinster won 48-23 away against Clermont-Auvergne, which was an expected result, and Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors underlined a possible gap between the URC and the Premiership with a comprehensive away 47-27 win against the Sale Sharks in Manchester.
Connacht’s return to Champions Cup after a fair gap was also a solid one, with Saracens being outplayed 45-36 in Galway. Munster beat Racing 92 33-25 in Galway.
That all adds up to a much better weekend for the URC than for the Premiership in the elite EPCR competition. For Premiership teams it read played eight, won one, lost six and drawn one. For URC teams it was played eight, lost two and won six. Bringing in the Top 14 teams, it was also the URC sides that faired best - the French played eight this past weekend, won four, lost three and drew one.
And if we’re looking for statistics to advance the cause of the URC against the rest after Round 1 of the Champions Cup there are some interesting one’s to hand - for instance, the Stormers and Connacht top the stats when it comes to offloads, with 18 each in their first games. The URC teams also conceded far fewer points across the board than the Premiership and Top 14 teams did, which backs up the metrics from last season that indicated that defence is better in the URC.
But what did the first round of the Champions Cup, and the Challenge Cup really teach us? I have no qualms in suggesting that the performance of the round from a SA perspective was actually the Sharks’ win in Lyon. The hosts were at full strength. The Sharks had made 12 changes and in the past their changed up team has struggled.
And given what they were going through, the Lions can definitely feel pleased with their debut in the Champions Cup. Yes, they lost, but they were always going to away against a team that has two stars on the chest to signify previous success in a competition the Lions are completely new to.
But while 49-12 and 56-20 scorelines against Bristol and Stade by the Stormers and Bulls are excellent results to have in the record books against rated clubs, in both games the local sides were up against teams denuded of first choice players due to those clubs looking at what comes next in their respective domestic leagues.
It is a derby round in the Premiership this weekend and Bristol coach Pat Lam selected around that. The French teams are notorious for not sending full strength teams to away games, particularly when those away games are in South Africa.
It all makes such a mockery of the bleating that has been evident in the UK media when SA teams have gone overseas under-strength, which they have to do occasionally. For instance, a look through the Stormers’ schedule for this season unveiled this - on Sunday, 3 January they play the Bulls in the biggest Cape Town derby of the year, and then face Gloucester in England six days later, on the Saturday.
John Dobson is going to struggle to send a full strength team to England straight off what will inevitably be a hugely bruising derby against the Stormers’ arch-rivals, and yet Gloucester showed against Bordeaux that they are going to be a really difficult team to beat in the Champions Cup.
MIXING SELECTIONS IS NECESSARY BUT IT DOESN’T SELL THE COMP
Mixing up selections according to what is happening in other competitions appears to be a fact of life in the Champions Cup, but it is one of the biggest reasons that South Africans appear to be struggling to get into the competition. Both home venues were pretty under-populated for the first round games.
The decision to play a one off round in October was made to get around that obstacle, but it hasn’t, and as a result the feel good stories that should be penned in SA, and the doom and gloom being felt in England (not the UK mind, because the Scots are okay), are made to feel a bit premature.
Hopefully from a local and URC perspective the promise shown in October will be shown to be more than just a mirage when we hit December and January, and hopefully deeper than that, and the signs are certainly there. But the competition needs full strength teams playing one another to properly grab the attention of the public.