BOBBY SKINSTAD, THE former South African No8, has stated his belief that the migration of his country’s four leading sides from Super Rugby to the URC will lead to a period of dominance in European rugby.
The Bulls, Stormers and Sharks will participate in next season’s Champions Cup after qualifying for the competition via the URC. With three of their four sides making the URC play-offs, and two reaching the semi-finals, it is clear that a powerhouse has emerged in European rugby.
And yet Skinstad is convinced there is more to come.
The 2007 World Cup winning backrower said: “I might get a wrap over the knuckles to say it but these South African teams are not yet the polished teams that they can be and have been in the past.
“We saw a Bulls team being incredibly dominant in Super Rugby when the opponents at that time were of the same international standard, I have no doubt in my mind about that, as the best club or provincial teams in the world.
“You had the Crusaders, the Chiefs, the Blues, the Reds, the Brumbies in their pomp. They would play at the same level as La Rochelle, Toulon, Stade Francais, Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Ospreys, the biggest teams in world rugby.
“So the South African teams at their best will absolutely be competitive in this tournament and could go on to win it in the future. They are not going to dominate (the Champions Cup) year in and year out because we haven’t seen that from any team.”
However, they have the potential to be regular visitors to the URC’s play-offs. All four sides reached at least one Super Rugby final in their history, with only the Bulls proving victorious in a decider. Skinstad sees benefits stemming from their relocation.
“My unequivocal view on this is that it is manna from heaven from the South African rugby side and the future of South African rugby,” he said.
“If it looks a bit haphazard then things sometimes have to look haphazard for a while before they get straightened out.
“This will be the best place to play rugby.”
Bulls coach Jake White – whose side take on Leinster this evening – tried a little too hard in his attempt to load the pressure on the hosts.
“Leinster is a phenomenal side that is very well-coached and is full of international players. You look at their bench and they have players who have more caps for the club than the entire Vodacom Bulls team combined.
“So we are definitely up against a quality side and it will be a great challenge.
“This Leinster team are the benchmark. But that’s what makes sport so exciting.
“People follow teams because at some point there comes a result that people don’t expect and they can say I was there.”
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Honestly, I am 100% behind this development, as I felt there needed to be a serious rejig in how European rugby was going, particularly the URC. The competition was absolutely dead in the water before the Saffas came in and since then, there has been new life breathed into it. While It hasn’t helped the Welsh teams in any way, despite it being their own union’s fault, it has shown that sooner or later, all the other teams will need to step up their game even more, especially since they will play games in South Africa.
And I don’t understand why people object to their European participation. What does that matter? They earned their right to be there. It’s not like all the other European teams haven’t been using their players anyway, so who cares?
As long as this establishes a forced improvement from all teams in the URC going forward, I’ve no issue at all with the Saffas being added. Playing the best SA has to offer week in and week out is crucial for all other teams to ensure they do not get left behind in the long run.
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: a poll in a french magazine and the french public were not happy with SA teams joining. But for me the French and english, created it, when they changed the competition from being controlled bu the 5 unions, to the 3 leagues, since they play in one of those leagues they qualify on merit (same can’tbe said about Ospreys, this year). I do think that the ones in charge really like the idea of SA teams in it, as it adds the 3rd largest rugby market to their profile for TV, sponsorship etc, hopefully it generates more prize money and we see some lower French and English teams actually try, rather than just being there to participate.
@Kingshu: Two of their teams have just won the two European competitions this year and they aren’t happy with the Saffas joining? They can p*ss off as far as i am concerned. That says a lot about them. Just as bad as the English in terms of not being able to deal with any changes in level of competition. I mean, they’re the worst in terms of how many foreign players they have in their teams, plus their resources and budgets so quite frankly, they have absolutely no reason to complain.
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: Agreed. It’s great to have the Saffas in the URC, no disrespect to the teams of the pro14 but it was abit of a hard watch at times. Also, the Welsh teams needed a kick up the arse anyway, hopefully the prospect of missing out on the Heineken Cup and their national team faltering might focus them abit.
@Ger O’Brien: Wales have only won 1 u20 (2016), were runners-up twice (2008 & 2013). Speaks volumes about the lack of quality in their underage structures even when acknowledging that there are lots of Welsh players in at English clubs.
Until they sort that out their regions will continue to underperform.
If Australia can join the Eurovision then SA rugby sides can join the rugby Champions League
Fair points except the champions cup has had 3 periods where it was clearly dominated by one team. The SA teams strengthens the URCs hand considerably. I suppose he wasn’t paying attention then when SA teams were still in super rugby
I think we have to be careful here. I welcome the saffa sides into the URC and Heineken cup but I think there is a risk that they will dominate it in years to come. It will lead to all the travelling contingent of SA players choosing to stay with there home teams which is great for SA rugby but remember who you are dealing with…. It will also ultimately strengthen SA as a national team in the same way as ireland have strengthened with our international players being kept at home in the provincial sides. The big difference is SA have a much bigger rugby playing population and are already the world champions!
@Davedental: Some will still move North to Europe & Japan to earn more money.
@Davedental: those are definitely risks that should not be ignored. There is also the benefit of getting used to playing SA sides and if we can lift our game perhaps they’ll be less an unknown entity come world Cup time or even within the URC & European/heineken. It could fall either way. It didn’t do the small population of NZ any harm playing the South Africans on a regular basis.
@SPQH: well they were not learning anything from Leinster tonight. Good lesson. Do your homework and get your strategy right. That’s two major losses. Think we would have needed Sexton to start.