South Africa’s top three clubs are in a do-or-die situation ahead of the fourth and final round of the Champions Cup pool phase. The Bulls, Sharks and Stormers have come in for criticism after their latest round of defeats, and if they don’t bounce back this coming weekend — against Pau, Clermont and Leicester, respectively — they will fail to qualify for the Champions Cup playoffs for the second consecutive season. The manner and margin of the recent losses are cause for concern, and have sparked yet another debate about whether the South African teams deserve their seats at the top table.
That said, the tournament itself has come in for criticism, and as recent results confirm, most of the teams are struggling to field their best combinations on a weekly basis. Results over the first three rounds of the tournament highlight a widespread problem. Of the 36 pool matches so far, the home teams have won 26 (72%) — and in 17 of those 36 matches (47%), the margin of victory was 20 or more points.
The South African teams have some soul-searching to do. The Bulls and Sharks were not competitive in the recent matches in Europe, while the Stormers lost 61-10 to Harlequins in London last week. And yet, the French clubs — as a collective — have fared worse than any other nation in away fixtures this season.
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French teams have finished on the wrong side of a big defeat (20 points or more) in eight of the recent 36 matches, while Northampton Saints became the second English side to lose by a substantial margin when they went down 50-28 in Bordeaux last week. Extraordinary travel demands as well as the challenge of competing across two major tournaments have informed selection policies in recent seasons. While it’s easy to sympathise with the decisions of the coaches, it’s impossible to accept that the Champions Cup — in its present form — is a world-class tournament that regularly pits the best against the best. It wasn’t too long ago when players were selected for their country’s national team off the back of impressive performances in marquee club matches.
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