Champions Cup ‘not a high performance competition’ as South Africa’s franchises reflect on nightmare round
The Stormers and Sharks were on the receiving end of heavy losses in the Champions Cup.
South Africa’s franchises have called for a change to the tournament schedule after a bruising weekend in the Investec Champions Cup.
The Sharks and Stormers were each handed 50-point thrashings away to English clubs, prompting calls on mainstream and social media for the southern hemisphere’s representatives to be removed from the competition.
Both sides travelled north with chronically understrength teams and paid a high price: the Sharks, last season’s Challenge Cup winners, humbled 56-17 by Leicester, the Stormers 53-16 at Harlequins.
Champions Cup has regressed
A once great tournament is suffering reputational damage from these mis-matches. The European Cup was the jewel in rugby’s crown, the Champions Cup is not. In its attempt to be all things, it has regressed. Few would argue that the whole is nothing like the sum of its parts.
“Not a good look,” was the verdict on Saturday night of Stormers head coach John Dobson, an outstanding rugby figure. Not one to sugar-coat anything.
Sharks counterpart John Plumtree added: “In a busy schedule, with the current travel arrangements and everything else that go with it, it’s not a high performance competition.
“It might be a premier competition, and a great competition. But unless they sort it all out and do it properly it’s become a tough task for teams to go to South Africa, and South African teams coming here.”
In six matches to date South African sides have lost five, the exception being the Sharks’ home victory over winless Exeter Chiefs on the opening weekend. In their three away games they have been outscored by 20 tries to four.
“I’m probably over-speaking now but we have to [sit down and work this out],” said Dobson. “We have got to make sure we can stay here.”
Both he and Plumtree advocate a tweak to the pool calendar so that teams going from one hemisphere to another play back to back games in the same part of the world, thereby enabling them to take fuller squads and, in so doing, place a greater onus on player welfare.
“We’re all competitive,” said Plumtree. “I want to give Leicester a good hiding, in front of their home crowd. Don’t worry about that. But the reality is we’ve got to look after these athletes. They are not robots. And right now, they’re treated like robots.
“They are playing in northern hemisphere rugby and southern hemisphere rugby and it’s crazy, it’s crazy. I feel sorry for them. Bloody tough, you know.”
Dobson does not want to cry foul too loud. “It’s like being invited to someone’s birthday party then complaining about the chips,” he said. “We are so grateful to be here.”
Dobson’s rallying cry
Instead, he gently warns South African rugby to help itself or risk losing what he considers to be a vital contributor to the nation’s world champion status.
“As South Africans we have to be better,” he said. “It’s a lot about recruitment and squad size. We are very much old school where you’ve got your main team.
“We must get ourselves into a better position [because] were we not to be part of the Champions Cup, and the URC morphed into an Anglo League and we went back to the Currie Cup of the 1980s where we were playing Griqualand West and Free State in dusty Kimberley, that would be disastrous for South African rugby.
“This competition is probably what has helped us so much in World Cups. Every breakdown is a competition. Every scrum is a 20-second contest. Every line-out or maul is a contest. That has been a massive boost for South African rugby.”
