Home ties and away challenges as all SA teams make European knockouts

On Sunday evening the Cheetahs edged Section Paloise 9-6 (Pau) in an ugly match to confirm themselves as the fifth South African team to qualify for the European Champions and Challenge Cup knockouts in an incredible showing.

It is the first time that the big four SA franchises have competed in the Champions and Challenge Cup, with the Cheetahs brought in as an invitational side to make it five participants across the two competitions.

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United Rugby Championship champs the Stormers, and the Sharks, produced the most impressive showings in the Champions Cup, winning three of their four games to secure home last 16 ties.

The Stormers closed their pool campaign on a high with a bonus point win over Clermont in Cape Town, while the Sharks lost their first game, going down to Harlequins in London.

Both teams secured third place in their respective pools, the Sharks in pool A and Stormers in pool B, which sees the Sharks host Munster in the last 16, while the Stormers will take on Harlequins.

Despite a tough Champions Cup campaign so far which saw the Bulls win two and lose two of their games, including a heavy 31-7 defeat against Lyon in France over the past weekend, they still managed to reach the knockouts, finishing seventh in pool A.

This sets up an extremely difficult last 16 away tie against French giants Toulouse, who cruised into the last 16 unbeaten and will fancy their chances against the Bulls who have yet to win away from home in the competition.

Hard work

In the Challenge Cup the Lions were made to work incredibly hard to seal their home play-off, after they allowed the Dragons to battle back from 30-5 down after 44 minutes, to eventually win 30-25.

Had the Dragons completed their incredible comeback the Lions still would have made the knockouts, but would have had to travel for their last 16 play-off.

Instead they’ve been rewarded for finishing third in pool B with a tricky home game against French giants Racing 92, who made the semifinals of last season’s Champions Cup.

 For the Cheetahs it was a fairytale finish to the pool stage, with them needing a win to progress to the next round, flyhalf Siya Masuku slotted a tough 81^st minute penalty to send their players wild.

It was essentially their first knockout game, as had Pau won or drawn the game, they would have made it into the last 16 ahead of the Cheetahs, who ended their pool stage with two wins and two losses to finish sixth in pool B.

They now face a very tough last 16 clash against Toulon in France, and they will hope to have their star players Frans Steyn and Ruan Pienaar back for their biggest match in years.

The last 16 of both competitions will be taking place over the weekend of March 31 to April 2, with the exact days of the games still to be decided.