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What the Champions Cup means to South African sides

Marcus Smith of DHL Harlequins kicking through during the Heineken Champions Cup, round of 16 match between DHL Stormers and Harlequins at DHL Stadium on April 01, 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by EJ Langner/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

The idea of welcoming South African clubs into the Investec Champions Cup last season was not one that was universally welcomed, but that objection dissipated as the season progressed.

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Now entering their second season in the competition, the sides seem part of the furniture, albeit only two sides are in the premier competition- the Stormers and the Bulls.

The Champions Cup (in its various iterations) has long held a fabled aura in some corners of Europe, and the fears were originally that its mystique would be diluted by opening its doors far and wide. Stormers lock Ben-Jason Dixon proves otherwise.

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The South African speaks just as effusively about the Champions Cup as players and fans would from Munster or Leicester, describing it as a “big privilege” to be playing in arguably the leading club competition in the world.

“You just need one trip to France to realise [how special the Champions Cup is],” the lock said at the launch of this season’s Champions Cup at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last month.

“It’s things that we’d never get the opportunity to do if we weren’t part of this competition. Massive teams- as a kid growing up, you never even thought of the possibility of playing a Saracens or Toulouse. Now it’s like a dream come true, so it’s very special.”

The South African outfits served up some of the best matches of the tournament last season, with Dixon noting the Stormers’ round of 16 clash with Harlequins as one of his standout memories.

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“One of the highlights was out match we played against Harlequins in the round of 16 at home in a packed DHL Stadium,” he said.

“We then flew over the Exeter for the quarter-final and got kicked out of the competition over there.”

Entering the tournament as the reigning United Rugby Champions last season, the Cape Town-based side were South Africa’s main hope of any success. They turned up at Sandy Park to take on the Exeter Chiefs as slight favourites, but had more or less lost the game after half an hour of play, eventually losing 42-17. They were South Africa’s last remaining team in the competition after the Sharks had exited earlier that day as well, but the loss made the challenges that come with playing the Champions Cup became all too apparent, particularly playing away from home.

Dixon discussed the challenges that the South African teams face in the competition, but has the belief that the Stormers and the Bulls can compete this season.

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He said: “I think it’s a different challenge, the Champions Cup. Even in the URC we’ve been struggling to win away from home, but we’re adaptable. So I hope we can keep on learning because there’s a lot of improvement that we need to make. But I think we can compete in the competition.”

The Stormers get their campaign underway with a trip to Welford Road on Sunday to take on two-time champions Leicester Tigers, before hosting reigning champions La Rochelle the week after.

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Sinenhlanhla 347 days ago

SA rugby have been saying for years “we’ll go north” now that we are it's time to ensure we more than hold our own in this prestigious competition

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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