Champions and Challenge Cup competitions back with a bang

The Champions and Challenge Cup competitions are back this weekend with the round of 16 stages set to be battled out across South Africa and Europe.

All five South African teams made it into the knockouts, making for an action packed weekend as they try to make it to the quarterfinals.

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The Stormers, Sharks and Lions will be hosting their last 16 clashes on home soil, while the Bulls and Cheetahs face tough away games in France.

In what should be a cracking encounter in front of over 40,000 fans, the Stormers take on Harlequins at the Cape Town Stadium.

The Stormers clinched a home last 16 match by finishing third in pool B after picking up three wins in their four pool games, while Harlequins finished sixth in pool A after winning two and losing two pool matches.

It will be an interesting match-up, but the Stormers will start as favourites, especially after they gave their returning Springbok players a good hit out in their 22-all draw against Leinster over the past weekend.

Players like Damian Willemse, Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe and Marvin Orie all got in valuable game time and they will be eager to put in a massive performance alongside the Stormers other Bok players on Saturday.

The Sharks will face a stiff challenge against Irish powerhouse Munster in their play-off encounter at Kings Park.

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The Durban side has been in poor form of late, losing their last three United Rugby Championship (URC) games, and they will be desperate for a positive result, especially after they were surprisingly beaten by Scarlets over the past weekend despite having their Bok stars available.

Munster by contrast have been on a strong run of form, although they also head into the match off the back of a loss, while the Sharks will be hoping that home ground advantage gives them the upper hand.

The Bulls face a massive challenge of trying to beat French powerhouse Stade Toulousain in their last 16 match in Toulouse.

The Pretoria side has been on a dreadful run of form, but will be buoyed by a positive showing in their loss to Ulster over the past weekend, and they will look to their huge URC semifinal upset over Leinster in Dublin last year as inspiration ahead of the match.

Challenge Cup

In the Challenge Cup both the Lions and the Cheetahs face difficult tasks against French Giants, with the Lions hosting Racing 92 while the Cheetahs travel to France to take on Toulon.

The Lions will be fired up after a superb three match winning run in the URC and they will want to take that momentum into the game at Ellis Park.

Racing have had an average season in the French Top 14 so far and are currently eighth on the log, so they will want to go far in the Challenge Cup, but the Lions will also be keen to progress and will hope that playing on the Highveld gives them the upper hand.

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For the Cheetahs it is going to be a very difficult ask for them to upset hosts Toulon on their home patch.

Unfortunately for the Bloemfontein based side they don’t play in an international franchise competition, and the step up from the Currie Cup to the Challenge Cup is a massive one.

The Cheetahs already did extremely well to reach the knockout phase of the competition, and with Bok star Frans Steyn ruled out of the Toulon game through injury, it would take a tremendous upset for them to progress.