There will be no SA teams participating when the Champions Cup resumes with the round of 16 at the weekend and Leinster have shown over the past fortnight just how far local sides have to go before they can be challengers in the prestigious European competition.
To be fair, Leinster are the only team in the United Rugby Championship (URC) who have a realistic hope of winning the Champions Cup, but at least with the other top teams from Ireland and Scotland they don’t have the logistical obstacles the SA sides face. Provided they don’t have to travel across the equator teams like Glasgow Warriors, Munster and Ulster could go deep in both competitions without the commitment across two fronts hindering either trophy quest.
Realistically though it’s only really Leinster who can challenge the top French teams in the EPCR Challenge Cup competition and also at the same time try to go all the way in the URC. The two games they have just played in SA have underlined why — they have the depth to go second string at even the most formidable of venues and still back themselves to have a chance of winning.
When the Leinster team to play the Sharks was announced and not even the two overseas Galacticos RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett were in the team, this column was poised to be an apoplectic fit directed at the double standards of those who fume when SA sides go understrength in Europe but excuse Leinster when they do the same in the URC.
Make no mistake, there is good reason to feel that Leinster undermine the competition when they rob such a big fixture of the extra interest there would have been had, as an example, Barrett been lining up against André Esterhuizen or Lukhanyo Am had he been fit.
However, what we were reminded of over the past two weeks was that when Leinster go understrength they are not sacrificing the result in the same way the local sides do when they go overseas understrength in the European competition.
Leinster were without all their Ireland internationals when they got pipped by the Bulls by a late scrum penalty at Loftus in their first tour game. They had a few Ireland internationals, like Ciaran Frawley and Cian Healy, back in the team but no Barrett or Snyman when they beat the Sharks in Durban.
They arguably fielded a weaker team against the Sharks than they did against the Bulls but neither team was weak in the manner of the Academy level team that suffered a record defeat at Loftus two seasons ago.
Frawley, who won a Test match for Ireland in Durban in 2024 with a last-gasp drop-goal, was backed up at flyhalf by Ross Byrne, who is one of the most experienced players in the URC. Academy player Fintan Dunn played his first full big game at scrumhalf but it was clear from his performance that he is a rising star. Max Deegan at No 8 was a talismanic presence.
In both games there wasn’t the sacrifice there was when the Stormers and Sharks went understrength to Harlequins and Leicester Tigers respectively for Champions Cup Pool games in mid-December. The Stormers and Sharks coaches spoke before those games about going for the win, but they were only paying lip-service to competitiveness.
If they were completely honest the two Johns, Plumtree of the Sharks and Dobson of the Stormers, might have said: “We are growing the experience of younger players while saving the top players from travel but we don’t expect to win.”
By contrast, when Leinster coach Leo Cullen said his team was going out to win he meant it. They were the better team against the Bulls until the Bulls scrum stole it from them at the end, and while many will hurl brickbats at the Sharks, the reality is that the synthesis of the Leinster second and third team actually played really well for their win at Kings Park.
Cullen now has backup players on his books who have won in SA. That’s a great position for him to be in and the net result is that while his selection policy, directed at keeping the top team fresh for next week’s Champions Cup round of 16 game against Harlequins, did imply some risk to his team’s position at the top of the URC log, he ended up getting through relatively unscathed and arguably with their chances in both competitions enhanced.
I say their URC challenge has been enhanced because though they did lose in Pretoria, the win in Durban means they ended their tour still comfortably winning the log but with now an even wider group of players who have played and won high pressure away games.
There isn’t a local franchise that comes close to being in that space and that needs to be the aim. It’s going to be a long road because Leinster didn’t get to where they are now overnight.
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