Two-time European club champion Andy Goode has predicted just one South African team will advance to the Investec Champions Cup quarter-finals.
The 2024-25 Champions Cup kicked off with La Rochelle winning at Bath on Friday night, and the first round commences for the South African contingent of the Vodacom Bulls, Sharks and DHL Stormers on Saturday.
Former England flyhalf turned rugby pundit, Goode twice won the Champions Cup with Leicester during an 18-year career which included a stint in Durban with the Sharks in 2010.
“The South African sides had the odds stacked against them a little bit in their first couple of years in the competition but I’m expecting them to make plenty of noise this time around,” Goode wrote for RugbyPass.
The Bulls were knocked out of last season’s quarter-finals after a 59-22 defeat to Northampton Saints while the Stormers were eliminated in the round of 16. However, Goode believes the Sharks, defending Challenge Cup champs, have the best chance among the SA teams of reaching the final eight based on the firepower of a Springbok-laden squad.
“There is real depth at the Sharks and Bulls in particular, and if the former keeps everyone fit, a starting XV featuring Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Vincent Koch, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Lukhanyo Am, Andre Esterhuizen and Aphelele Fassi will be a match for anyone.
“I think we’ll see the cream rising to the top once more and a line-up of three French clubs, two English teams and one each from Ireland, South Africa and Scotland in the last eight come mid-April.”
