As South African rugby fans still come to terms with the United Rugby Championship (URC) and high-summer rugby, they’re going to have to adjust to another adventure – the European Champions and Challenge Cups.

This weekend the Sharks, Bulls and Stormers are all in action in the Champions League equivalent for rugby. It’s an exciting time for the sport.

In terms of exposure and quality, South Africa’s cups certainly do run over. The move north, forced under duress when New Zealand Rugby (NZR) unilaterally abandoned Super Rugby and brought the Sanzaar alliance to imminent collapse, has been a game changer for South African rugby.

The URC has proved popular, and of a high standard, and now the next step, the European Champions and Challenge Cups, elevates the standards even higher. New battles against French and English clubs will add to the colour and spectacle of the tournament.

It’s also part of the bigger picture to fully integrate South African rugby into the northern hemisphere. All that remains is for the Springboks to play in the Six Nations, and that could be a reality by 2025.

Six Nations next?

This move is also a crucial rung to the top step of the ladder for the South African Rugby Union (Saru) – the Springboks’ participation in the Six Nations Championship. The Boks could be playing in the Six Nations from 2025, when their current contractual obligation with New Zealand, Australia and Argentina in the Sanzaar alliance has run its course. 

Bayonne’s Fijian centre Sireli Maqala runs with the ball during a French Top14 match against Lyon Olympique Universitaire on 3 December 2022. (Photo: Gaizka Iroz / AFP)

The Boks will complete their Rugby Championship commitments with the Wallabies, Pumas and All Blacks until 2025, but there is no contract in place beyond then. 

Saru has aggressively pursued alignment with the northern hemisphere after NZR effectively collapsed Sanzaar with its decision to pull out of the alliance during the height of the pandemic in 2020. 

NZR, under former boss Steve Tew, was closely aligned with South Africa and understood the benefits of staying hitched to the republic. But his successor, Brent Impey, took NZR in a different direction, making overtures about a competition with two Pacific Island teams and excluding South Africa.

NZR felt it was a power broker in the alliance and didn’t believe SA Rugby was serious about sending more teams north (the Cheetahs and Southern Kings were forerunners in PRO14 before the URC was established at the time). 

When Covid-19 hit and competitions were suspended, NZR took the opportunity to break away. It unilaterally decided to create its own Super Rugby-type tournament from 2021, without consulting its partners in the joint venture.  

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At the time, the ink was hardly dry on a new Sanzaar five-year broadcast deal, with the tournament set to return to 14 teams. NZR breached that contract with its move, which set in motion a chain reaction that, two years on, is still being felt. 

In late July 2020, SA Rugby executives woke up to the news that NZR had announced its future didn’t include South Africa. Saru CEO Jurie Roux had already sensed the shifting mood and through positioning the Cheetahs and Kings in PRO14, he had established a pathway to the north. All he needed was a reason, and NZR duly obliged by breaking off its relationship with Sanzaar. 

The Bulls face French club Lyon in their Champions Cup opener and coach Jake White has warned that it will be a step up from the URC and only a small rung below Test rugby standard. (Photo: Lefty Shivambu / Gallo Images)

The rest, as they say, is history. New Zealand now has its Super Rugby competition with Pacific Island teams, which they could barely give away to broadcasters in 2022.

But the All Blacks at least have sold a stake in their brand to equity outfit Silver Lakes Capital for $134-million. 

Similarly, Saru is close to finalising an equity deal with CVC Capital, which owns stakes in the Six Nations, the URC and the English Premiership. And now, South Africa is fully integrated into the European club game. 

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“Ever since we’ve made the decision to align with the northern hemisphere, our aim has been to play in the EPCR competitions,” Roux said at the confirmation of the WPCR entry.

“As we’ve seen during the inaugural season of the URC, the rugby is of the highest standard and our top players definitely benefited from this move.

“We now have an opportunity to also start rubbing shoulders with the top clubs from England and France in two other competitions which have caught the imagination of rugby supporters around the globe for more than two decades.” 

White warns of new challenges

The Bulls face French club Lyon in their Champions Cup opener and coach Jake White has warned that it will be a step up from the URC and only a small rung below Test rugby standard.

The Bulls are in good shape in the URC, currently second on the log and fresh off a 45-9 win over Cardiff in that competition last week.

“I think everyone (in South Africa) is a little naive, both from a supporter point of view and a young player point of view,” White said as a prelude to the Bulls’ opening encounter against Lyon at Loftus on Saturday.

“We will be coming up against teams boasting several Test internationals, both in the starting team and on the bench.

“Remember, most of the European teams don’t just draw from the player pool base in their country, they have South Africans, Kiwis, Aussies, Argentinians and players from the Pacific islands.

“I have experienced this competition before when coaching Montpellier, and whether it is the Champions Cup or the Challenge Cup, it is incredibly tough.

“Generally, the depth of those teams is much stronger than we have gotten used to in the URC and which we have in our systems in South Africa. I’ve tried very hard over the last few weeks to explain to the guys in our squad just how good these teams are.

“The packs weigh 1,000kg, they’ve got brilliant international-class backlines. I think we are in for a bit of a wake-up call next weekend. Once we have seen the games on TV everyone will understand the enormity of the challenge facing our teams.”

Lyon won the European Challenge Cup last season and although the Bulls are on a four-match URC winning streak, they won’t be complacent.

Danny Care of the Harlequins passes the ball during a Gallagher Premiership match against Bath on 2 December 2022. (Photo: David Rogers / Getty Images)

The Stormers take on Clermont Auvergne in their Champions Cup opener in Clermont on Saturday, while the Sharks host English side Harlequins at Kings Park.

Clermont have won the Challenge Cup (one rung below the Champions Cup, like soccer’s Europa League) three times and also been runners-up in the Champions Cup three times.

The French giants are not enjoying a great season domestically in the French Top 14, but last week they beat Montpellier for a timely return to form.

Harlequins have secured back-to-back wins over Gloucester and Bath in the English Premiership and are in good form, while the Sharks enjoyed a confidence-boosting URC win over the Ospreys last weekend. DM

Heineken Champions Cup fixtures (Round 1):

Sharks v Harlequins

Date: Saturday, 10 December

Venue: Kings Park, Durban

SA time: 3pm

Referee: Tual Trainini (France)

TV: SuperSport

Clermont Auvergne v Stormers

Date: Saturday, 10 December

Venue: Stade Marcel-Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand

SA time: 5.15pm

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

TV: SuperSport

Bulls v Lyon

Date: Saturday, 10 December

Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

SA time: 7.30pm

Referee: Matthew Carley (England)

TV: SuperSport

EPCR Challenge Cup fixtures (Round 1):

Emirates Lions v Dragons

Date: Saturday, 10 December

Venue: Ellis Park, Johannesburg

SA time: 12.45pm

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe (England)

TV: SuperSport

Section Paloise v Cheetahs

Date: Saturday, 10 December

Venue: Stade du Hameau, Pau

SA time: 3pm

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

TV: SuperSport