South African franchises must launch a full-on assault against Europe’s top clubs next season, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
The Champions Cup is billed as ‘The One To Win’ but that certainly wasn’t the case for French Top 14 club Lyon, South Africa’s Bulls and English Premiership club the Exeter Chiefs this season.
Lyon, fighting a relegation battle on the domestic front, sent a B team to Loftus for their round-of-16 match against the Bulls and were trampled 59-19.
The Bulls then took the same approach for their quarter-final in England against the Northampton Saints, preferring to keep their big guns at home for a URC match against Munster the following week. While Jake White’s understrength side put up a good fight in the first half at Franklin’s Gardens, the gulf in class was evident in the second as they slumped to a 59-22 defeat.
The next day, Toulouse scored nine tries in a 64-26 mauling of Exeter, who fielded a young team while their senior men put their feet up ahead of a push for the Premiership semi-finals.
Predictably, it was the non-European Bulls who were accused by the European media of disrespecting a competition that had until recently been a European Cup, and not Lyon or Exeter.
I thought those critics still had a point, though. SA Rugby pushed hard for its teams to be eligible for the Champions Cup and second-tier Challenge Cup, and here were the Bulls picking a B team for a quarter-final. It wasn’t a good look for SA Rugby, which had to fork out R4.1-million to fly a second- string squad to England (as it is not yet a full EPCR stakeholder).
But it also wasn’t a good look for the EPCR that three teams from three different countries put their domestic leagues ahead of the Champions Cup playoffs, and explains why the EPCR is pushing for a format change that would result in a longer period between the round-of-16 and quarter-final matches.
It remains to be seen whether this has the desired effect, as clubs may still opt to focus on domestic rugby, especially if they’re unlikely to win a European quarter-final against tough opposition (as was the case for Exeter in Toulouse).
From a South African perspective, though, I hope our coaches do now prioritise the Champions Cup, which should be the pinnacle of European (and now SA) club rugby in the same way the Champions League is the pinnacle of European club football.
Manchester City had won four English Premier League titles under manager Pep Guardiola but weren’t regarded as a truly great side until they won the Champions League last year. The Stormers won the inaugural URC, and the Bulls may emulate them this season, but neither John Dobson nor White should be satisfied until they’ve conquered Europe and lifted the Champions Cup.
The SA franchises must also do more to educate their fans on the importance of the Champions Cup, and where the Challenge Cup fits in. It was alarming to hear White, when explaining why only 7,500 fans pitched up at Loftus for their playoff against Lyon, say that South Africans still didn’t understand the format or how our teams qualified from the URC for the European competitions. ‘Once the supporters twig onto it, I’m sure the situation will change,’ White said.
It won’t change, though, until the Champions Cup actually becomes ‘The One To Win’ for South African franchises, and their No 1 priority.
Photo: Paul Harding/Getty Images
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South African franchises must launch a full-on assault against Europe’s top clubs next season, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
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