On paper the Champions Cup quarter-final between Northampton and the Bulls from Pretoria is a rugby fantasist’s dream come true. The Premiership leaders against the only South African side to claim a Super Rugby title. The 21-year-old fly-half Fin Smith pulling strings in the face of meaty forwards. Franklin’s Gardens under lights. This should be club rugby at its best.
In reality the spectacle has been marred by a logistical nightmare that has jeopardised the sense of occasion. Jake White, the Bulls coach who was in charge of the Springboks when they lifted the 2007 World Cup, has left 13 of his regular starters at home. World champions Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse, as well as fellow Boks Wilco Louw, Marcell Coetzee, Gerhard Steenkamp and Johan Goosen will be watching from the Highveld. The official line is that many are nursing injuries with White also emphasising the need to rotate his squad. But another explanation, one that White dismissed on Friday, has garnered attention.
