Rugby: South African teams will play in European cups
Leolin Zas' Stormers will play in the European Rugby Champions Cup, starting in 2022-2023.
Getty Images - Athena Pictures
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
3 mins
Five South African rugby union teams will take part in the European Cups (Champions Cup and European Challenge) from the 2022-2023 season.
A development welcomed by the rugby authorities, but called into question by some players.
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Can we still talk about European rugby union cups?
From next season, the Champions Cup and the European Challenge – the equivalent of the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League in football – will indeed host South African teams.
The Cape Stormers, Pretoria Bulls and Durban Sharks will compete in the Champions Cup, while the Johannesburg Lions and the Free State Cheetahs of Bloemfontein will play in the European Challenge.
An evolution, however, not so unexpected: the Bulls, the Lions, the Stormers and the Sharks have taken part since 2021 in the United Rugby Championship (URC), a transnational competition which also brings together formations… Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Italian.
It is also through the URC that the South Africans have validated their tickets for the European Cups.
The enthusiasm of the authorities
An integration hailed by several rugby authorities, starting with the South African Federation (SARU).
"
Our five franchise teams will now play in two new territories against opponents we have never faced before
," said Jurie Roux, head of SARU.
We now have the opportunity to also begin to rub shoulders with top clubs from England and France in two other competitions that have captured the imagination of rugby fans around the world for more than two decades
.”
According to Jurie Roux, negotiations began almost two years ago, following the break-up in 2020 of Super Rugby, a league which in 2019 brought together teams from South Africa, Argentina, Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
For Dominic McKay, the boss of the European Professional Rugby League (EPCR), this reform will bring a breath of fresh air: “
The arrival of the Stormers, Bulls, Sharks and Lions will bring some really interesting southern hemisphere rugby flair, world class players and new fans to our tournaments.
We are pleased to welcome the Cheetahs to the EPCR Challenge Cup.
The measures we have taken with our leagues and with the SARU allow us to continue to develop the tournaments to make them the best in club rugby.
»
The rejection of certain actors
The players in the game, on the other hand, are not all so ecstatic.
Starting with Vincent Merling, boss of Stade Rochelais, a French club freshly crowned in the Champions Cup.
“
Let things be clear, I am not at all, at all, in favor of the arrival of South Africa in the European championship
, he launched during a press conference organized this June 1st.
Now that South Africa is in the Champions Cup, it's no longer the European Cup
”.
Beyond the question of identity, there is also the environmental question, with the very long journeys of South African formations.
Lenaïg Corson, one of the star players of French women's rugby and consultant in Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSR), expressed her misunderstanding on Twitter: "
In an approach where rugby institutions [...] are developing their CSR project and [sustainability], I find it hard to see how our carbon emissions will decrease.
»
An open secret, this announcement and this change in dimension still raise questions.
If we can hear the argument of the globalization of 🏉, what about the identity of the competition, the organization (fatigue of the players), not to mention the environmental aspect... https://t.co /QzlHJ9HOWY
- Carole GOMEZ (@carole_gomez) June 2, 2022
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