The Daily Dispatch E-Edition

TOUGH COMPETITION

New challenges for top SA rugby clubs

Apparently it is hugely intimidating to play there, and you are confronted by an intimidating sea of yellow and blue

Feast of first-round group fixtures to focus on this weekend

An illustration of why the SA rugby landscape is going to change substantially with the country’s first entry into the Champions Cup is provided by the first round of group fixtures this weekend.

If fans are looking at which games to focus on among the 12, it will be a tough choice to make.

For followers of SA franchises, Saturday afternoon into the evening won’t be too difficult — the three games featuring local teams run successively, with the Sharks kicking off against Harlequins in Durban at 3pm, and the Bulls ending the day by hosting Lyon at 7.30pm.

In between those games is sandwiched the appetising visit of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship title holders, the DHL Stormers, to Clermont Auvergne for a game that will be interesting for the uniqueness of the challenge faced by the Cape team.

John Dobson’s men are determined to make an impression and a statement but have been told by everyone they’ve spoken to that they are in for quite an experience.

“The Champions Cup is another world, we know that we are entering a whole new world next weekend and we are tremendously excited about it,” Dobson said after his team’s URC win over the Dragons in Gqeberha.

“We are also excited to be starting off away against Clermont, though we do understand it is a formidable prospect. Dwayne Peel (Scarlets coach) said that it is one of the most incredible rugby experiences.

“Apparently it is hugely intimidating to play there, and you are confronted by an intimidating sea of yellow and blue.”

It is indeed a new world that the Stormers are stepping into, and an exciting one too.

For instance, the Sharks, desperate to get the Champions Cup off to a good start after struggling recently, are in for quite an experience when they head to London for the return fixture against Harlequins at The Stoop in January.

While the Sharks and Quins are locking horns at Kings Park on Saturday afternoon, the leading team on the URC log, Leinster, will be visiting Paris to play against Racing ‘92.

The away games in France are always noted for how tough they are, and Leinster’s strong fightback in a riveting URC derby against Ulster last weekend was a perfect appetiser for this game.

Many players who played Super Rugby rate the Champions Cup as the best competition.

While in the early years of Super Rugby, when it was competed by 12 teams, it was possibly the world’s most watchable competition, but in later years the expansions in the number of competing teams changed that.

What also makes a difference for South African fans is the similarity of the time zones.

Instead of games being spread out from early in the morning SA time (for games played in New Zealand) through to about midnight (Argentina), the fixtures in the Champions Cup are squeezed into a much narrower time frame than was the case in Super Rugby.

Fixtures:

Friday: London Irish v Montpellier (10pm).

Saturday: Racing ‘92 v Leinster (3pm), Sharks v Harlequins (3pm), Gloucester v Bordeaux Begles (5.15pm), Clermont Auvergne v Stormers (5.15pm) La Rochelle v Northampton (7.30pm), Bulls v Lyon (7.30pm), Castres v Exeter (10pm).

Sunday: Sale v Ulster (3pm), Saracens v Edinburgh (5.15pm), Munster v Toulouse (5.15pm) Ospreys v Leicester (7.30pm).

Sport

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2022-12-08T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-08T08:00:00.0000000Z

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