Wales great Dan Biggar insists that changes need to be made if the Investec Champions Cup is to thrive with the inclusion of the South African teams.
After their franchises – the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers – joined the United Rugby Championship, they were able to qualify for the continental competition.
The South African outfits already have to travel to long distances and their inclusion in the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup has impacted them even more.
It is obviously also difficult for those travelling from Europe to South Africa. As a result, teams feel that they need to field weakened teams, which is diminishing the value of the competition.
‘Incredibly tough’
“It’s vital to acknowledge the impact on the players. The reality is that it is incredibly tough for elite athletes to travel from Europe to South Africa for a one-off game,” Biggar wrote in his Daily Mail column.
“The same, of course, applies to the likes of the Sharks or Bulls when they come to the UK, with the former travelling to Welford Road to face Leicester on Saturday.
“When the South African teams entered the Champions Cup for the 2022-23 season, after joining the United Rugby Championship in 2021, it immediately became clear the impact of travelling huge distances for matches would become an issue. It still is.”
After South Africa were dumped from Super Rugby, some were sceptical about their move to the URC, but it has been positive for all involved.
It is a different matter in the Champions Cup, however, with logistical issues still needing to be sorted out.
“I can understand entirely why everyone wants a piece of South African rugby. They’re the double world champions. They’ve got so many world-class players and they bring significant television revenue into the northern hemisphere competitions,” Biggar wrote.
“I think too they have added hugely to the URC – the league which also contains Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Italian teams.
“However, there is a key difference between how the URC and the Champions Cup works. When European teams go to South Africa for URC games, and vice versa they often tend to go for two weeks or more and play a minimum of two games. That is manageable.
“I am not anti-South Africa at all. It’s one of my favourite places to tour and the memory of captaining Wales to a Test win on Springbok soil will stay with me forever. But there are practical concerns over playing there in European competition.”
Biggar’s idea
Biggar has therefore urged EPCR to make alterations to the competition to make the travel arrangements more like the URC.
“So, what to do? If the South African teams are going to stay in the Champions Cup, I would restructure the tournament so that teams travel there for two-week blocks like in the URC,” he wrote.
“We want the Champions Cup to be the best it can be and at the moment, teams aren’t being given the chance to play at their peak.”
