The Sharks are the only SA team in action on European finals weekend, with the Challenge Cup decider against Gloucester at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Friday. Hopefully it will be the key to getting themselves back into the elite Champions Cup.
Despite bombing spectacularly in the United Rugby Championship (URC), due to the number of marquee players and World Cup winners they will have when among others Andre Esterhuizen and Trevor Nyakane join them, the Sharks are arguably the best equipped of the local teams to go deep in the elite cup competition should they get there.
But while the Bulls and Stormers Champions Cup campaigns ended several weeks ago, both have done good off the-field business that significantly improves their chances of future success.
Unlike the Sharks, who are using their money to go the marquee route and bring in name players, the Bulls and Stormers are placing most of their focus on retaining the promising young players who in time will be big stars.
JF van Heerden, the prodigiously talented young former Grey College lock, was the most recent player to commit to the Bulls, and in time we will know what a massive coup that was. He was in fact who I had in mind when recently I wrote that young players yet to represent the Springboks should be deterred from going overseas by having the right to play for their national team denied them if they base themselves overseas.
It was understood a French club was close to getting Van Heerden’s signature. Clearly they could see his potential, and losing the youngster now would be a huge loss as at the age of just 19 he has already shown his potential playing for the senior Bulls team. The press release I saw didn’t mention how long Van Heerden has committed for, but the player mentioned three years in the quotes attributed to him.
“The club has a good programme that they are running and I have personally grown a lot in this programme. I am excited to see what the next three years will do for me,” said Van Heerden.
Three years, as minimum, appears common to the Bulls and the Stormers regarding the length of the commitment — until the next Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2027, with a reassessment to be made thereafter.
Talking point
Van Heerden isn’t the only young Bulls player to be excited about the future that beckons for the Pretoria franchise. Other players who have extended their contracts include two promising hookers, Johan Grobelaar and Jan-Hendrik Wessels, a fine looseforward in Celimphilo Gumede who was inexplicably overlooked by the Sharks, the highly promising No 8 Cameron Hanekom, and the big one, Canan Moodie, is also contracted now to 2027.
Star Springbok Kurt-Lee Arendse isn’t contracted for as long, but for the others the length of the contracting period is the talking point. It means the players get locked in and the coaches can do some proper succession planning.
The Stormers’ retention quest has been every bit as impressive as that of the Bulls. The latest announcement was of Evan Roos’ extension until “at least 2027” and considering he is only 24 and has achieved so much already, the value of that to the Stormers hardly needs to be explained.
To some there might be a need to stress the value of the huge coup John Dobson pulled off when Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu committed for another three years, just because the precociously talented young flyhalf (he has impressive utility value but considers pivot his best position) hasn’t played that often yet for the Stormers’ first-choice team.
But in time the 22-year-old will underline why Dobson describes him as a generational player. Former Bok legend Victor Matfield is certainly not alone in thinking Feinberg-Mngomezulu could play an important role at the next World Cup as a flyhalf. With Manie Libbok understood to be on the Stormers books for a few more seasons too, the Stormers are well covered in that position.
Dobson considers young Suleiman Hartzenberg, currently used on the wing but probably a centre in future, as another generational player, and he is understood to have also committed to another three years at the Stormers.
The Sharks have some young stars too — Corné Rahl and Ethan Hooker jump out — but their second string team that played Cardiff looked a bit like a Dad’s Army XV, with a lot of older players playing and, without wishing to be unkind, there was a lot of dead wood on the field.
The Sharks have the name players to perform at Champions Cup level but it remains to be seen if they have contracted the depth that is required as the commitment to two competitions intensifies. You need to do well in the URC to qualify for the Champions Cup and that is where the Bulls and Stormers have a start on the Sharks.
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