To say the 2022-23 Champions Cup is proving a logistical challenge for some teams is the understatement of the season. If the presence of the Stormers and Sharks in the last eight at the first attempt is a positive for South African rugby, there really should be an additional box in the corner of the TV screen displaying their latest air miles tally.
Take the Stormers. This calendar year alone they have played away in Glasgow, London, Belfast and Dublin. Now, having seen off Harlequins in hot, humid conditions in Cape Town last Saturday, they are having to pack their bags again and head north to face Exeter this Saturday. Faced with a similar schedule, even Tom Cruise’s Maverick would be begging for more downtime in the Top Gun hangar.
A further complication is the looming Easter holiday weekend. Not only did Stormers not know exactly where they would be playing until Sunday afternoon but positioning the last 16 and the quarter-finals together with millions of holidaymakers also on the move is making life impractical for European supporters too. Even if they have the spare time, prices are sky-high and the hoop-jumping is too complicated to make following their team practicable.
It adds up to a scenario that someone, somewhere should have spotted in advance. Next year, thankfully, there will be no Easter clash but the round of 16 and quarter-finals will once more be wedged in alongside each other. Why? A tournament that was once proudly away fan-centric is in danger of becoming one that only really works for broadcasters and travel agents.
This is both a crying shame and another sign of the times. Rugby is changing and the product has to be as tip-top as possible. In that respect the South African sides are unquestionably adding extra quality and keeping the rest of the field on their toes. Last season the furthest Quins had to travel in this competition was to the south of France. Now they have visited both Durban and Cape Town and finished second best both times.
No visiting side, in fact, has won in eight attempts on South African soil this season. The acid test of southern quality, though, is about to arrive. The Sharks might have stuck 50 points on Munster at home last Satuday, but beating Toulouse in Toulouse will require them to ascend to a whole different level. Not without good reason did all eight last-16 ties end up with the home side progressing, compared with only four when the sudden-death format was introduced two seasons ago.
Exeter are the perfect case study. They may not currently be the greatest club side in the world but in their own backyard in front of their own supporters they can supply a culture clash to disconcert anyone, let alone slightly dusty long-haul travellers. If ever there was a week to lower ticket prices and to pack out Sandy Park with noisy Devonians, this is it, particularly if one or two Stormers turn up slightly unsure which hemisphere they are in.
Hence why any win on the road in the later stages of the Champions Cup is to be savoured. As the two South African sides have already discovered, the immutable law is that pool standings hugely affect what happens subsequently. Leinster and La Rochelle are unbeaten in this season’s competition and are perhaps the last venues in Europe where opponents would fancy heading.
While that makes Gloucester’s heroic stand on the Atlantic coast on Saturday all the more praiseworthy, they may just have prodded the La Rochelle beast. As the England prop, Mako Vunipola, has intimated, this coming Sunday’s visitors, Saracens, anticipate a sharply improved home performance from the off when they travel to the Stade Marcel-Deflandre. When it comes down to the crunch, how many Leicester fans would put their mortgages on their team faring massively better than England did in the Aviva Stadium last month?
With the Ireland centre, Garry Ringrose, also available again, a semi-final lineup of Leinster v Toulouse and La Rochelle v Exeter would not be a total surprise, with the South African sides slipping out of the last-four picture. That would probably prompt a raft of slightly patronising verdicts about them not being quite at the required level as yet.
Then, however, you cast an eye through their opponents’ weekend teamsheets and spot the likes of Jasper Wiese, Jannes Kirsten and Ivan van Zyl. And remember that Wiaan Liebenberg, Dillyn Leyds, Cheslin Kolbe, Rynhardt Elstadt, Jacques Vermeulen, Vincent Koch, Brad Barritt and Schalk Burger have all won a Champions Cup winners’ medal inside the past five seasons.
Look back through the record books and 26 South Africans have hit the European final heights over the years, which is just two fewer than New Zealand and Australia combined. At which point it is reasonable to start wondering what this year’s quarter-final lineup might look like without the South African sides’ frequent flyer handicap, their country’s economic and political realities and the funding disparity with some of their northern rivals. It is less a question of South African players raising the standard in Europe this season as finally being able to do so in their own provincial uniforms.
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