SATURDAY & SUNDAY PREVIEW: The absence of South African teams in this weekend’s Champions Cup Round of 16 should not be mistaken for insignificance.
The handprint of South African rugby on the tournament runs deep.
The Republic’s legacy over the past 30 years is in those South African-born players who successfully chased club rugby’s most prestigious star.
The two most dominant teams of the past decade, Toulon and Saracens, had a strong South African presence, and South Africans were influential in the title wins of Toulouse and Leinster.
If you dig deep enough, there is a South African story to be told from nearly every Final, starting with South African-born and raised Bath flyhalf Mike Catt in 1998.
Catt, a former South African Under-20 player, became a mainstay at Bath and for England.
His name heads an impressive list of South Africans, many of them World Cup winners for South Africa and internationals for England.
Toulon’s record-breaking golden era, in which they won three successive Finals between 2013 and 2015, included World Cup winners Bakkies Botha, Juan Smith, Danie Rossouw and Bryan Habana, while loose-forward Joe van Niekerk was among the South African pioneers at Toulon.
Van Niekerk played 122 times for the club and led Toulon to their first title in 2013.
Saracens, when at their peak, had a Bok backbone, with hooker Schalk Brits, prop Vincent Koch, flanker Schalk Burger and scrumhalf Neil de Kock among the most influential Springboks at the club.
Brad Barritt, a former SA U20 midfielder, would play for England and the British & Irish Lions, and he would lead Saracens in some of their finest triumphs.
Barritt and Brits both played more than 200 matches each for Saracens and De Kock finished with 250 matches for the English club.
Toulouse’s resurgence, in winning their fifth star, included the brilliance of winger Cheslin Kolbe and loose-forward Rynardt Elstadt, while current Springboks scrum coach Daan Human was a double star winner with Toulouse in a French club career that totalled 169 matches for Toulouse.
Toulouse added a sixth star last season with a pulsating win against Leinster.
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Human, Gurthro Steenkamp and Shaun Sowerby are among the original South African trio to win the star with Toulouse and also play over 100 matches each for the club.
Springbok prop Heinke van der Merwe and South African born and raised hooker Richardt Strauss won two titles with Leinster and Van der Merwe would add an EPCR Challenge Cup gold playing for Stade Francais.
Kolbe also has a unique Champions Cup and Challenge Cup double, winning the former with Toulouse and the latter with Toulon.
EPCR Chairman Dominic McKay spoke of the heritage and culture of the competition and how South Africa’s introduction has added to the culture and, in time, will do the same to the heritage of the world’s toughest rugby club competition.
“There is such a rich history of the competition and with the South African teams joining, it has made such a difference,’ said McKay.
“We couldn’t be more proud to have South Africa as part of the Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup.
“The contribution that South Africa have made from a sporting point of view has been incredible.
“The contribution South Africa has made from a cultural point of view is equally important to me.
“I often talk about the importance of the values of rugby.
“The idea that this sport is more than just the 80 minutes on the field.
“It’s about everything that wraps around. It’s the values of the game. And that’s best expressed, I think, often by the transport and the movement of fans and travel.
“It is outstanding and that is something which we as a sport should be very protective of.
“It’s our unique selling point, perhaps, over other sports. And that idea of cultural exchanges, opportunities for the players to challenge themselves in a different hemisphere.
“Sometimes altitude is a wonderful experience for a player, for a coach and the referees.”
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La Rochelle’s Director of Rugby Ronan O’Gara has won the Champions Cup twice with the French side, but on Saturday, they host his other great love, Irish province Munster, in the Round of 16 of this year’s competition.
As a player, O’Gara is a Munster icon, still their record points scorer after a 16-year career there.
More pertinently, Ireland’s number one flyhalf at the time pulled the strings when they won the European Cup – the predecessor to the Champions Cup – in 2006 and 2008.
The 48-year-old has since guided La Rochelle to back-to-back Champions Cup successes in 2022 and 2023.
“It’s a love story. It most definitely is,” O’Gara told reporters on Wednesday.
“If you were to take a minute or five to reflect, it’s a fantastic story because it’s the two teams that have given me most in terms of rugby.
“There will be great craic, the place will be hopping, buzzing,” he added, with more than 2,000 Munster fans set to travel to the port town on the French Atlantic coast.
Despite O’Gara’s success in recent years, La Rochelle’s current form is worrying.
They are without a win in eight games with their last victory coming in January.
O’Gara’s men reached the knock-out stage, having won just half of their group games with the competition’s format continuing to come under fire.
‘Back on track’
“We haven’t been in a mentally dominant position in terms of confidence,” O’Gara said.
“Like winning becomes a habit, losing becomes a habit.
“We need to get back on track this weekend,” he added.
Many will be happy the competition is now entering the business end after a much-criticised group stage where some teams fielded weakened sides for pool games involving South African sides due to player welfare concerns.
In a reverse for those who argued successfully to include the South African teams, the Sharks, the Bulls and the Stormers all failed to reach the last 16.
There were also worries over environmental issues due to numerous long-haul flights.
Nevertheless the policy of selecting under-strength sides is not over as three-time champions Saracens are planning on naming a second-string outfit to travel to Toulon.
Sarries have decided to rest England internationals Maro Itoje, Jamie George and Elliot Daly for the re-run of 2014’s Final.
“They will all miss Toulon. We don’t have to do that, but we will,” Saracens Director of Rugby Mark McCall said.
“We’re not going to send a pack of 18-year-olds out against Toulon. We’ll also give it a crack with absolutely nothing to lose,” he added.
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Elsewhere, Sale faces a daunting trip to six-time winners and holders Toulouse who welcome back flyhalf Romain Ntamack for the first time since France beat Scotland to win the Six Nations title last month.
Benetton head to Castres in the Italians’ first knock-out game in the top-tier tournament and Bordeaux-Begles, No.1 seeds from the group stages, host Ulster.
Treviso, in their green and white jerseys, were founded in 1932 as a student team.
They established themselves as Italian rugby heavyweights in the 1980s thanks to backing from clothing company Benetton, created barely 6km from the club’s Stadio di Monigo home.
The fashion brand’s support helped the Lions sign foreign superstars like All Black John Kirwan and Wallaby Michael Lynagh and brought through Italian heroes such as Sergio Parisse, Alessandro Troncon and Fabio Ongaro.
New Zealand-born Dean Budd arrived in Northern Italy in 2012 before going on to captain the outfit as well as the Azzurri.
During the majority of Budd’s spell, Treviso were almost guaranteed a spot in the competition as the highest-ranking Italian club before qualification was restructured in 2018.
“We’d always been given our free ticket in as we were the Italians and no one ever expected anything more,” Budd told AFP.
“But to see them having earned their position in the Champions Cup and then get to a last 16, yes they deserve it,” the former lock added.
‘Set a marker’
The 15-time Italian champions, who joined the now United Rugby Championship in 2010, have the backbone of the national team in their set-up.
Flanker Michele Lamaro captains the Azzurri, who have had impressive results in recent Six Nations with their Treviso contingent.
“We are almost the main representative of the national team in terms of how many of the players we have within our squad,” Odogwu said.
“The better we do, the better the national team does and the better Italian rugby does as a whole,” the six-time Italy winger added.
Kirwan and Lynagh have long left the Prosecco sparkling wine producing region but Il Leoni still have some big name internationals in their squad.
Lynagh’s oldest son Louis joined in 2024, and former New Zealand centre Malakai Fekitoa competes for a place in midfield with Italy pair Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello, the 2024 Six Nations player of the year.
“I think he would be everything the club needs and the personalities there need,” Budd said of Fekitoa.
“I can imagine he’d be very supportive of what our goal is, that the team is better, whether it’s from the bench, the stands or starting.
“For him to come in, I think he’s worth every penny to show that attitude,” he added.
Standing in the way of further Treviso history and the Champions Cup quarterfinals are Castres.
The French club have lost just once since the turn of the year and have only tasted defeat this term on one occasion.
“It’s going to be difficult, but I don’t think there’s a last 16 game in the Champions Cup that’s easy,” Odogwu said.
“If we can come out of this with a win, then we’ve really set our own standard and we’ve set a marker that we are a serious team and we’re a challenger in all competitions,” he added.
Bordeaux-Begles were unbeaten in their pool, with 15 of their 33 tries coming from supersonic wingers Damian Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey, who was named the player of the Six Nations earlier this week.
Leinster, who have lost the last three Finals, are expecting a crowd of more than 60,000 at Gaelic sport’s headquarters of Croke Park for Harlequins’ visit.
All the teams and predictions for Saturday (April 5) and Sunday (April 6) follow below …
Saturday, April 5
Toulon v Saracens
(Stade Mayol, Toulon – Kick-off: 13.30; 12.30 UK time; 11.30 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Toulon by 10 points
Teams
Toulon: 15 Melvyn Jaminet, 14 Jiuta Wainiqolo, 13 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 12 Jérémy Sinzelle, 11 Gabin Villiere, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Ben White, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Esteban Abadie, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 5 David Ribbans (captain), 4 Matthias Halagahu, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Teddy Baubigny, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros.
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Dany Priso, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Brian Alainu’uese, 20 Matteo le Corvec, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Marius Domon, 23 Setariki Tuicuvu.
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Olly Hartley, 11 Angus Hall, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl (captain), 8 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Nick Isiekwe, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Eroni Mawi.
Replacements: 16 James Hadfield, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Harry Wilson, 20 Nathan Michelow, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Louie Johnson, 23 Brandon Jackson-Richards.
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Chris Busby (Ireland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
Leinster v Harlequins
(Croke Park, Dublin – Kick-off: 15.00; 12.30 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Leinster by 15 points
Teams
Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Jamie Osborne, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Jack Conan, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Gus McCarthy, 17 Jack Boyle, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Jordie Barrett.
Harlequins: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Tyrone Green, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Ben Waghorn, 11 Nick David, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Will Porter, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Will Evans, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 Chandler Cunningham-South, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter.
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Irne Herbst, 20 George Hammond, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jamie Benson, 23 Luke Northmore.
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Kevin Bralley (France), Thomas Charabas (France)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)
Castres v Benetton
(Stade Pierre-Fabre, Castres – Kick-off: 16.00; 14.00 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Castres by five points
Teams
Castres: 15 Theo Chabouni, 14 Christian Ambadiang, 13 Adrien Seguret, 12 Andrea Cocagi, 11 Rémy Baget, 10 Louis le Brun, 9 Santiago Arata, 8 Abraham Papalii, 7 Gauthier Maravat, 6 Mathieu Babillot (captain), 5 Florent Vanverberghe, 4 Paul Jedrasiak, 3 Will Collier, 2 Gaetan Barlot, 1 Quentin Walcker.
Replacements: 16 Loris Zarantonello, 17 Lois Guerois-Galisson, 18 Aurelien Azar, 19 Leone Nakarawa, 20 Baptiste Delaporte, 21 Jeremy Fernandez, 22 Jack Goodhue, 23 Nathanael Hulleu.
Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Nacho Brex, 11 Paolo Odogwu, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Riccardo Favretto, 5 Eli Snyman (captain), 4 Scott Scrafton, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Bautista Bernasconi, 1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Siua Maile, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Giosue Zilocchi, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Michele Lamaro, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Jacob Umaga, 23 Malakai Fekitoa.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales (England), Jonathan Healy (England)
TMO: Dean Richards (England)
La Rochelle v Munster
(Stade Marcel Deflandre, La Rochelle – Kick-off: 18.30; 17.30 Ireland time; 16.30 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Munster by seven points
Teams
La Rochelle: 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Teddy Thomas, 12 UJ Seuteni, 11 Hoani Bosmorin, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Grégory Alldritt (captain), 7 Oscar Jegou, 6 Levani Botia, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Thomas Lavault, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Pierre Bourgarit, 1 Reda Wardi.
Replacements: 16 Quentin Lespiaucq, 17 Alexandre Kaddouri, 18 Aleksandre Kuntelia, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Judicael Cancoriet, 21 Matthias Haddad, 22 Antoine Hastoy, 23 Jules Favre.
Munster: 15 Thaakir Abrahams, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Sean O’Brien, 11 Andrew Smith, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne (captain), 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Oli Jager, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 1 Jeremy Loughman.
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Fineen Wycherley, 20 Tom Ahern, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Rory Scannell, 23 Alex Kendellen.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Adam Leal (England), Filippo Russo (Italy)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)
Glasgow Warriors v Leicester Tigers
(Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow – Kick-off: 20.00; 19.00 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Leicester Tigers by three points
Teams
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Kyle Rowe, 14 Jamie Dobie, 13 Stafford McDowall, 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Kyle Steyn (captain), 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Sione Vailanu, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 JP du Preez, 4 Gregor Brown, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Nathan McBeth.
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Alex Samuel, 20 Euan Ferrie, 21 Rory Darge, 22 Ben Afshar, 23 Sebastian Cancelliere.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Dan Kelly, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Emeka Ilione, 6 Hanro Liebenberg (captain), 5 Harry Wells, 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Finn Theobald-Thomas, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 Archie van der Flier, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Tom Manz, 20 Finn Carnduff, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Joe Woodward.
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ben Breakspear (Wales), Gareth Newman (Wales)
TMO: Adam Jones (Wales)
Sunday, April 6
Bordeaux-Begles v Ulster
(Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux – Kick-off: 13.30; 12.30 Ireland time; 11.30 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Bordeaux-Begles by 16 points
Teams
Bordeaux-Begles: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Yoram Moefana, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Pablo Uberti, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Maxime Lucu (captain), 8 Pete Samu, 7 Guido Petti, 6 Mahamadou Diaby, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Cyril Cazeaux, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Maxime Lamothe, 1 Jefferson Poirot.
Replacements: 16 Romain Latterrade, 17 Matis Perchaud, 18 Sipili Falatea, 19 Pierre Bochaton, 20 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 21 Yann Lesgourgues, 22 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 23 Matthieu Jalibert.
Ulster: 15 Mike Lowry, 14 Zac Ward, 13 James Hume, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jack Murphy, 9 John Cooney, 8 Dave McCann, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 James McNabney, 5 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Alan O’Connor (captain), 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Andrew Warwick.
Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Callum Reid, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Matt Dalton, 20 Matty Rea, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 Aidan Morgan, 23 Stewart Moore.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Adam Leal (England), Joe James (England)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
Toulouse v Sale Sharks
(Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse – Kick-off: 16.00; 15.00 UK time; 14.00 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Toulouse by 18 points
Teams
Toulouse: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Pita Ahki, 11 Blair Kinghorn, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Paul Graou, 8 Alexandre Roumat, 7 Jack Willis, 6 François Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Julien Marchand (captain), 1 David Ainu’u.
Replacements: 16 Guillaume Cramont, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Joel Merkler, 19 Clement Verge, 20 Anthony Jelonch, 21 Mathis Castro-Ferreira, 22 Juan-Cruz Mallia, 23 Paul Costes.
Sale Sharks: 15 Luke James, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Robert du Preez, 12 Rekeiti Maasi-White, 11 Arron Reed, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 6 Tom Curry, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Si McIntyre.
Replacements: 16 Tadgh McElroy, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Willgriff John, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Ben Bamber, 21 Sam Dugdale, 22 Nye Thomas, 23 Tom O’Flaherty.
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Dave Sutherland (Scotland), Ruairdh Campbell (Scotland)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Sources: AFP & EPCR
