Like last season, the road of the South African franchises stopped at the quarter-final stage of the Champions Cup (the Sharks are still in the Challenge race). The last team still in the running, the Bulls, did not resist Northampton this Saturday evening (59-22), conceding a severe 31-0 in the second act. Even though they scored nine tries in this home game, the Saints were careful not to get excited at the final whistle, too aware of having faced a weakened team. What should have been a clash between the leader of the English Championship and the highest ranked South African franchise in the URC was not one.
An improbable trip for the Bulls
While he denied wasting this quarter, coach Jake White denounced his team’s travel conditions and criticized the South African federation, SA Rugby, accusing it of not having optimized travel arrangements for a separate group during this journey. “There aren’t many teams that leave with eight different flights on Tuesday evening to play on Saturday,” he said just before their departure. Some of my players go to London, others to Birmingham, with different arrival times (…) Two weeks ago we already went to Leinster (in URC), it took us 28 hours to to get there and 27 to return. Whether we like it or not, all of this has a cost. »
SA Rugby responded quickly, explaining that as the Champions Cup quarter-final brackets were only confirmed late last Sunday (April 7), it had not been possible in such a short space of time. to book tickets for 38 people on the same plane to England. And this is one of the crux of the problem. As much as transcontinental trips can be organized well in advance for the group stage, for which the draw takes place months in advance, it is more difficult to anticipate the final phase matches, particularly between the eighth and shifts, separated by a single week.
In South Africa, Jake White’s choice to field such a weakened team in the quarters was criticized, with some believing that it weakened the position of the provinces in the competition (they were integrated during the 2022-2023 season), giving the impression that they prioritized the URC (the Bulls will play a crucial match against Munster next Saturday at home). The coach defended himself before the match: “I have already said it again and again, last season, I did not rotate my team enough and that cost us dearly in the end. My team line-up against Northampton has nothing to do with the Munster game, it has to do with where we are as a group. »
“It would be using an excuse”
Ronan O’Gara, Stade Rochelais coach
The fact remains that the team he fielded on Saturday evening did not last two halves against the Saints and that the clash between these two teams turned out to be unbalanced. In addition to having an obvious ecological cost, the travel of teams between Europe and South Africa therefore also creates sporting inequality. How can you stay competitive after crossing hemispheres? The figures prove that European clubs and South African provinces have not yet found an effective response.
In the round of 16, LOU also chose to rest many executives when traveling to Pretoria to face the Bulls last weekend. Furthermore, after the Stormers’ 21-22 defeat against La Rochelle (the first victory for a European team on South African soil in the Champions Cup) during the same weekend, the coach of the Cape Town franchise , John Dobson, explained: “We are perhaps missing one or two more years in the competition, in terms of experience. We are still lacking. The weekend we could have had (with a trip to Leinster in the quarter-finals if they had beaten La Rochelle) could have compromised our next match against the Ospreys (in URC, April 20). For now, the Champions Cup is a bonus. »
Instead, it was the Rochelais who were entitled to a match in Dublin a week after another in Cape Town. With a result (40-13 defeat) which says a lot about the superiority of Leinster over the Yellow and Black this season and a little about the difficulty of stringing together matches at the heart of such a journey. Ronan O’Gara was also asked after the match if the trip to South Africa had affected the disappointing performance of his players. “That would be using an excuse, the best team won,” he retorted. Perhaps with a little hindsight, we would say that it was a factor that played a role. » Already swept away in the round of 16 and quarter-finals of the Champions Cup last season after long trips, the South Africans will not say the opposite.
