OPINION: Enough with the local URC derbies

Thank goodness we’ll see the last of the United Rugby Championship local derbies this weekend.

It is high time the South African teams started playing against some different opposition again.

While it’s always fun and exciting to see the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers go up against each other, and these matches certainly draw bigger crowds than when they play against the European teams, enough is enough.

Since February 8 all we’ve had is one derby after another. After this weekend it will be seven in a row, and going back to late November, and through December, there were also a number of SA derbies staged in that period.

While the build-up to the first two or three was somewhat exciting, the buildup to the last few have been a pain … with coaches and players all saying the same things, and for the Lions and Stormers it’s been “must-win” almost every weekend.

This weekend’s clash between the Sharks and Lions in Durban, a week after the teams met in Joburg last Saturday, is thankfully the last SA derby of the competition.

It must be noted though a good number of these derbies during the period mentioned here are postponed matches, due to various reasons.

Nothing to get excited about at the back-end

After this weekend’s match in Durban, six rounds of the regular season remain, and all the local derbies will be done.

The reason for the congested SA derby fixtures is also because the Six Nations takes place from late January until next weekend, and all the European URC teams are forced to take a break, for the most part.

I wonder how the South African fans feel about having all the local derbies almost back-to-back-to-back over a number of weeks all in the middle stages of the competition and then nothing later on.

Surely having a big local clash or two to look forward to at the back-end of the competition, when there might be something riding on the result, such as making the top four or getting into the top eight, would excite fans more.

I hope in future the local derbies can be spread out over the course of the competition.

Oh well, I suppose we must be pleased all four SA teams are in with a chance of making the playoffs and playing in the quarter-finals this season.