The European Rugby Cups are exploding the borders of the Old Continent. next season, five clubs from South Africa will join the Champions Cup and the European Challenge. The Cape Stormers, Pretoria Bulls and Durban Sharks will compete in the Champions Cup, won last Saturday by La Rochelle, while the Johannesburg Lions and the Bloemfontein Cheetahs will play in its little sister, the European Challenge. , won this season by Lyon.
The first three named have been competing in the United Rugby Championship (URC) since last season with Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Italian provinces. The Stormers (2nd in the URC), the Bulls (4th) and the Sharks (5th) therefore qualified for this title, alongside the Irish of Leinster, Munster and Ulster, the Scots of Edinburgh and of the Welsh of the Ospreys. The Lions finished 12th in the URC and will therefore contest the Challenge. Just like the Cheetahs, who are currently playing in the Currie Cup (South African championship) but who are invited to the “small” European Cup.
These arrivals, assures the president of the EPCR, the body which organizes the two European competitions, Dominic McKay “will bring a really interesting touch of Southern Hemisphere rugby to our tournaments, world class players and new supporters“.”This is a crucial step in realizing our vision for the development of rugby and our own tournaments, continuing to deliver strong commercial revenue to our leagues and creating an ever higher level of exciting matches for our fans.“, added the boss of the organizing body.
The details of the draws for the pools remain to be specified.
For the time being, the terms of this integration are not known. The EPCR must announce “shortly” Next season’s formats, along with details of the pool draws for both tournaments, scheduled for the end of the month. EPCR General Manager Anthony Lepage is looking forward to welcoming “South African franchises as famous and as followed” in the European cups. He believes that “will allow these competitions to reach a new level in elite rugby, with the best South African players now able to compete against the best French and English players“.
“We are very excited to raise the bar even higher next season, with matches featuring South African World Cup winners, in addition to the European stars who are already rocking the stadiums.“, he added. Same story on the side of the South African Federation: “Our five franchises will now play in two new territories against opponents we have never faced before. We have experienced the intensity of the URC before and now we will also face the best clubs in England and France.“, estimated the director general of the SARU Jurie Roux.
French clubs cringe
This enthusiasm is not necessarily shared by everyone. The president of La Rochelle Vincent Merling, freshly champion of Europe, denounces “a loss of identity“.”Let things be clear, I am not at all, at all, in favor of the arrival of South Africa in the European championship. Now that South Africa is in the Champions Cup, it’s no longer the European Cup. It is a favorable response that we offer to Celtic rugby which ardently wished it but, for the president of the Stade Rochelais that I am, I do not understand“, he thus assured on the eve of the announcement.
Clément Poitrenaud, the back coach of Stade Toulouse, also believed in early May that this integration “distorts the competition“. The Italian, Scottish and Welsh franchises, collateral victims because deprived of places in the “big” European Cup, would also have things to complain about. Just like the players, faced with the prospect of long trips to another continent in full heart of an already extended season.