Always a Wasp

Fans may not like it, but South African teams winning boosts legitimacy for ?European? tournaments

South African involvement is not going to end anytime soon so all possible improvements to tournament formats should be explored
Ben Coles
Rugby Reporter
26 May 2024 ? 11:57am
Ben Coles

It was a strange atmosphere leaving Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Friday night, filing back towards Seven Sisters and hearing what the Sharks supporters had made of their team?s demolition of Gloucester. Don?t let the 22-36 scoreline fool you; the Sharks battered Gloucester up front - as you would expect with a tight five containing Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Vincent Koch and Eben Etzebeth - and were clinical when chances fell their way, unlike Gloucester in the first 10 minutes.

Perhaps the one-sided nature of the victory led to the surprisingly measured reaction, with one Sharks fan on the tube suggesting that the officiating of the scrum had been overly harsh on Gloucester, an almost All Blacks-esque commitment towards staying humble. Sometimes, you just have to call a spade a spade - the Sharks were far better than the opposition and more than worthy winners.

As finals go, that awesome scrummaging display aside, it was slightly forgettable. What it might mean for the future of South African teams in Europe, however, is another matter. What better way to legitimise the addition of those sides into the European competitions than the sight of the Sharks picking up the trophy at the end of the season.

This happened immediately in the first season of the United Rugby Championship, when the Stormers and Bulls contested an all-South African final after defeating Leinster and Ulster. The Sharks winning in Tottenham was a marked improvement on last year, when South Africa?s participation in the Challenge Cup came to an end with the Lions? quarter-final exit.

Which means all that?s left is the Champions Cup, the hardest to win of them all (just ask Leinster). South African interest this season came to an end with the Bulls? decision to send a weakened side to Northampton for their quarter-final, a move which went down like a lead balloon. They were deservedly thrashed.


If Jake White?s side do end up winning the URC - they have already qualified for a home quarter-final - then that decision will be viewed in a more favourable light (the Bulls? strongest side in fact lost to Munster the week after that Northampton game). Currently, the selection call still feels like a damp squib of a finish to South Africa?s participation in this year?s Champions Cup.

John Plumtree, the Sharks head coach, has a point regarding the high amount of travel for South African teams, suggesting it needs to be streamlined to stop the Sharks spending three months a year on the road. If you?re inclined to react to those comments by saying ?tough?, that?s fine. But having South African franchises in Europe is not an experiment which is about to end anytime soon however much anyone protests. So, if there are ways to improve the format of the Champions Cup, which has been saved slightly this season by a final for the ages, then they need to be explored.

What would certainly help win over any naysayers would be a credible effort going deep in the Champions Cup, something which the Stormers looked well-placed to do this year until they lost to La Rochelle in the round of 16. The Sharks winning the Challenge Cup, even against a team performing as poorly as Gloucester have this season, is a credible achievement. To now go one step further by having even a chance at winning the top prize in the northern hemisphere would give the addition of the South African franchises greater legitimacy and put the bad taste of the Bulls? quarter-final selection in the distant past. As Friday night in Tottenham reminded everybody, the Sharks, Stormers and Bulls all have the quality to contend in Europe providing they take it seriously.

Great match , and hate to admit it a great stadium with brilliant atmosphere inside(though no Guinness and the bar nearest me had run out of one beer at half time and then had shut down in second half -obviously no thought of extra time and drinking habits of rugby supporters).
Good mix around me of french supporters though obviously more Irish on the whole. Well done to Toulouse.

Pardon me please, and completely off piste,  but ..........  welcome back Joffre Archer.  And with a wicket too.  Has it been two or more years?

What is a " Joffre Archer"?

Having used my phone for casting I am now free.
What a match well done to Jack, Tibo and Blair. Jack mentioning Wasps was a breath catch moment. When commentators talk about Dupont and Willis in the same sentence you know the boy done good.

Liked the Toulouse coach saying we have an academy session in the morning.

   ......  and WHAT a stadium!!   And what supporters!!  And how brilliant to hear J ack talking about Wasps, and how much he missed them.   :'(  :'(