AS MUNSTER’S CHAMPIONS Cup campaign unravelled in alarming fashion amidst the heat and humidity of Durban, you could have forgiven someone for wondering whose genius idea it was to invite the South Africans to a party that was previously only European.
Munster, Connacht, and Ulster had already been fighting to return to the top table in the Champions Cup, as well as working towards being in consistent trophy contention in the URC, but now everything is even more difficult thanks to the South Africans. Leinster also have new trophy rivals, as their dethroning in the URC last season showed.
This is the new reality and it can surely only be seen as a positive in pure rugby terms. It’s what the IRFU wanted when they agreed to bring the Sharks, Stormers, Bulls, and Lions into the URC, as well as the Champions and Challenge Cups.
“We’ve probably spent a lot of time in the last long period mixing with the teams we mix with geographically, our local partners,” said IRFU performance director David Nucifora last autumn.
“That’s served us really well and we won’t neglect them going forward but we have to look at different options.
“If you want to stay with the big boys, you’ve got to play with the big boys, and play with them more often.”
Nucifora, who is expected to leave his role next year, pushed hard for the much-maligned Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa to go ahead. After it seemingly helped a number of players to kick on with their careers, it will be interesting to find out if that trip is repeated in the future. It did cause major friction with the provinces.
It’s clear what the ‘big boys’ of South Africa have brought to the party in this neck of the woods. The Stormers blitzed their way to the URC title at the first time of asking, beating the Bulls in an all-South African final after Jake White’s side shocked Leinster in Dublin in the semi-finals.
Now, the Sharks have knocked Munster out of the Champions Cup. They and the Stormers could also end the southern province’s hopes of being in the competition next season and making the URC play-offs next month. Munster face a massively important trip back to South Africa.
Connacht are still in the URC play-off fight, having recovered from a tough start to the season that involved losing to the Stormers and Bulls down in South Africa. The westerners did enjoy home wins over the Sharks and Lions as they fought back into contention.
To Ulster’s credit, they won narrowly away to the Lions and Sharks in the URC this season, while also beating the Bulls and Stormers at home, but let’s not forget that it was the Cape Town franchise that beat them at the death in last season’s semi-finals.
The two most enjoyable URC games Leinster have been involved in this season have been the visits of the Sharks and Stormers to the RDS. Leinster won the first and drew the latter, but it’s no exaggeration to say they were among the most memorable occasions at the Dublin venue in years. Leo Cullen’s side still have a two-game South Africa tour to come, but their dominance means they’ll leave their frontline players behind for those visit to the Lions and Bulls this month.
These are just the beginning of what look like becoming great rivalries in the coming seasons. Indeed, Stormers head coach John Dobson recently told us that there is already a nice bit of spice to their relationship with Ulster. It will only become more heated with increased exposure.
Of course, there are serious drawbacks to this new relationship between the South Africans and European rugby.
A perfect case in point is the fact that the Stormers are currently still stuck in Cape Town ahead of Saturday’s Champions Cup quarter-final away to Exeter. Travel delays mean Dobson’s men have an even tougher task on their hands than would have been the case.
Munster weren’t making excuses last weekend but there’s no doubt that leaving Ireland on Tuesday and then trying to quickly acclimatise to such heat and humidity is a major challenge. There’s also the fact that travelling fans have to dig deep into their pockets if they want to follow their teams in person.
Even aside from the logistic issues and the challenges of different weather conditions in the two Hemispheres, there’s also the question of whether all this long-haul travel for rugby games is the right thing amidst global climate concerns. Indeed, one has to wonder whether this is all sustainable given the toll it’s already having on the travelling teams.
Pare it all back to purely rugby terms, though, and it has already proven to be a winner. The South Africans have brought brilliant skills, athleticism, and rugby nous to the mix. Their fans are seriously passionate and many of them are knowledgeable.
And this is all only in club rugby. At Test level, the rivalry between Irish and South African rugby is also set to kick onto a new level.
Last autumn’s battle between Andy Farrell’s team and the Springboks was the first time the nations had met in five years. Far too long a wait. It was a pity that Ireland didn’t get to play the Boks sooner after Rassie Erasmus had questioned their mettle in a behind-the-scenes documentary about the South Africans’ glorious 2019 World Cup journey.
“They are not softies, they’re not like Ireland,” said Erasmus before the Boks played Wales in the semi-finals.
“They’re not like England, who goes away. They are tough fuckers.”
Ireland certainly weren’t soft last November in Dublin when their pack got the better of Erasmus’ men in a 19-16 win.
That clash beautifully teed up the World Cup Pool B encounter between the sides on 23 September of this year. Scotland might have a say, but that Ireland v Springboks showdown could decide who tops the pool.
There’s also the matter of Ireland travelling to South Africa in the summer of 2024 for a two-Test series. It will be Irish rugby’s first time down there since 2016 when they won a test on South African soil for the first time ever.
In truth, that was not a vintage Springboks outfit but they still beat Ireland in a three-Test series, so one can only imagine how tough it will be in 2024 after an already gruelling season of rugby.
While there’s no opening for the Springboks in the Six Nations at this stage, one hopes this suddenly increased exposure is the new norm.
The rivalry between Irish rugby and the big boys of South Africa could be a lot of fun.
