DESPITE HIS OBVIOUS disappointment at seeing two Irish provinces falling short at the semi-final stage of the competition, Tommy Bowe is adamant the United Rugby Championship has been enriched by the inclusion of the South African teams.
To round off their debut season in northern hemisphere rugby, the Bulls and the Stormers will contest the inaugural URC decider at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday evening.
The prospect of an all-Irish showpiece remained a live one heading into the penultimate phase, but Leinster and Ulster ultimately came unstuck in their respective last-four encounters against the above-mentioned pair.
“The URC in the last number of years, in the different guises and different names that it had, was probably being questioned a lot in the fact that Leinster were running away with it. They had won so many back-to-back titles. The competition wasn’t there and they weren’t really getting the competitive level of matches that really needed to be seen,” the former Ulster and Ireland star remarked at a URC media round table earlier today.
“The South Africans coming in, they promised that they were really going to raise the standard of the competition. They couldn’t have shown it more than two of them making it all the way to the final and three of them making it through to the quarter-finals.
“It would have been brilliant in my opinion and I’m sure most people’s opinions, to have had a North versus South final, but what a way to get South African supporters interested in the competition.
“By having two South African rivals going head-to-head in the first final. I know the Irish teams and other countries are going to be really up for the challenge next year.”
Since it first began life as the Celtic League in 2001, this competition has gone through a drastic evolution. Italian outfits Aironi and Benetton Treviso were subsequently added to the mix in 2010 – Zebre took the place of the former just two years later – before the Southern Kings and the Toyota Cheetahs became the first South African clubs to join the league in 2017.
Even though neither of them were able to compete during the 2020/21 season, the competition’s organisers were keen to re-establish a South African link. Having initially featured in last year’s Rainbow Cup, this was the cue for the Bulls and the Stormers – as well as the Sharks and the Lions – to join the URC party.
Having sampled first-hand how arduous a journey it is to the southern hemisphere, Bowe can appreciate how much of a culture shock their involvement is for teams on this side of the world. Yet the Monaghan native still expects the URC to develop its own unique identity over time.
“In my last year playing for Ulster, I actually made the trip down to play the Southern Kings. Having no difference in time between the two countries makes a huge difference, but obviously the travel was quite difficult. I think it took us about 23 hours to get down there. Between getting to London, to Johannesburg and then across to Port Elizabeth.
“That does take its toll and I think that’s going to be difficult for the players, but the more this competition evolves it will get easier. I think the URC have always been very open about bringing in different teams.
“The Italians came in and the impact that they’ve had some would question, but I think the South African teams have really added that layer of competition.
“That is really what we want. It’s only going to take time before we see these rivalries built up. I would imagine the next time Ulster welcomes the Stormers up to Belfast, there’s going to be a huge rivalry there.
“The supporters are really going to get behind it. Likewise the Bulls and Leinster. These competitions take time to build up these rivalries and I think the tighter the games, the more interested the supporters and everybody will be.”
Joining Bowe at a URC round table event earlier today was none other than Joel Stransky – the former Springbok international who kicked all of his side’s points when they defeated New Zealand 15-12 in the 1995 World Cup final.
Although conditions appeared to be settled when he was speaking to media representatives from South Africa and Ireland in a Zoom call, he explained how Cape Town had been besieged by torrential rain and flooding in recent days.
Should the weather continue to wreak havoc on the nation’s legislative capital right through to the weekend, Stransky can see the Stormers holding the edge over the Bulls on their home patch. However, this is by no means the only reason he believes John Dobson’s side will prevail on Saturday.
“The Bulls will have to move the ball around a bit to beat the Stormers. The Stormers have got a big pack of forwards. They’ve got a strong midfield. Both teams have got fly-halves who control the game well. It’s going to be awfully close,” Stransky said.
“You’d be stupid to bet against the Bulls because they’ve gone and beaten Leinster away, but it’s hard not to pick the home side. The Stormers are just laden with talent and they’ve got a team that rise to the big occasion.”