OPINION: It’s time to face the facts about SA teams in Europe

After another underwhelming weekend in European showings, South African rugby fans are being yanked back to reality and questioning why their franchise teams are struggling overseas and if indeed they should continue playing there when they appear to be so mismatched.

Three of the five South African teams flailed this weekend after talking up their prospects. It was only the Stormers’ very unexpected 40-point drubbing of Sale Sharks and the Cheetahs’ nail-biting 22–18 win over Zebre that were silver linings in an otherwise dismal weekend of rugby.

Most hoped South Africa’s most-star-studded side, the Sharks, would hold up against Toulouse in Durban. But in an error-strewn game, the South Africans were nowhere close and the French side could have easily scored more tries if the ball wasn’t so slippery. The final score was 20–8.

The Bulls decided to feature a younger team in their must-win game against Castres Olympique, and were appropriately whipped 49–10.

In the Challenge Cup, the Lions were similarly beaten 28–5 by Montpellier.

Situation in Europe

Questions have been asked about competitiveness ever since SA teams joined the United Rugby Championship (URC) in the 2021/22 season and the Champions Cup the year afterwards.

However, in the first season of the URC, the Stormers and Bulls both reached the final, with Stormers taking the win. The Sharks also reached the quarter-finals that year.

In 2022/23, the Stormers reached the final while Bulls and Sharks reached the quarter-finals. Last season, only the Bulls reached the play-offs but they went as far as the final.

No South African team has progressed past the quarter-finals in the Champions Cup yet, though the Sharks, Stormers and Bulls have each featured once.

The situation doesn’t look good this season as all SA teams have struggled in the Champions and Challenge cups and holding positions four, five and 10 in the URC is a far cry from previous editions.

The biggest issue is the depth needed in squads to be competitive in more than one competition.

This was highlighted by Leinster director of rugby Leo Cullen, who said his side took a decade to truly find their feet in both, the domestic competition and in Europe. To do so, the Irish club needed “a squad of players closer to 30 than a starting XV”.

Does South Africa have the depth that is needed?

South African coaches have been blamed in the past for choosing understrength teams for the Champions Cup. Jake White didn’t seem to have learned his lesson from this dating back to the Champions Cup quarter-final last year.

But whenever asked, they say they take the tournament seriously and make wholesale changes like this to rotate their squads and promote development and minimise injuries.

Sharks head coach John Plumtree even warned that the Springboks could suffer at major tournaments such as the World Cup if a solution wasn’t found to the demand on players by playing in SA and Europe in a 12-month season, which appears to be leading to more injuries.

In the same breath, he said South Africa is better placed than most countries to deal with this, due to their depth.

While it is true that the Springboks are the strongest national team in the world, the depth that saw 50 different players take the field last season is due to two factors.

First, the top three sides indeed have talent, and while the Lions and Cheetahs aren’t on the same level currently, they have yielded a handful of Springboks in the last few years.

This ensures Rassie Erasmus has his choice of local talent, when they are fit.

Secondly, there are many quality South African players featuring in top teams overseas. Drawn by the promise of greater earnings, the likes of Handré Pollard, Cheslin Kolbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Cobus Reinach, the Du Preez brothers, and others, would rather shine for overseas teams than join the beleaguered local sides.

At the end of the day, the depth at the Springboks betrays the situation at our clubs, where the quality of sides beyond their top 15 or 23 players has been found wanting.

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