Mike Greenaway
South African rugby supporters are used to living with their arms held aloft thanks to the Springboks but hands are sinking as the local teams get a sobering smack of reality in the Champions Cup.
The tournament, formerly known as the Heineken Cup, brings together the top performers in France, England, and the United Rugby Championship and South African teams continue to underestimate the enormity of it.
The Champions Cup is substantially more prestigious than Super Rugby or the URC, yet the Sharks, Bulls and Stormers naively continue to see the latter as the more important competition. The Europeans are laughing at them.
At the weekend, the Sharks were unimpressive in beating the Exeter Chiefs in Durban, while in Gqebertha, the Stormers were terrible in losing to Toulon, a French team so skilled in what it takes to win in the Champions Cup.
“You have to win your home games in the European Cup,” Stormers coach John Dobson said of his team, which has won just two wins in the URC.
“It doesn’t get any easier as we head to The Stoop to play Harlequins before returning to play major derbies against the Lions (next weekend) and Sharks (December 28), before the next round of Euro Cup encounters.
That will see them host Sale Sharks in Cape Town on January 11, before a trip to France and an encounter with Racing 92 in Paris on January 18.
“The problem is that this loss is a mortal blow because of the injuries we suffered,” Dobson said.
“The truth is, we are running out of cattle (players),” he said.
He confirmed that two players – flyhalf Manie Libbok (concussion) and flank Keke Morabe (fractured leg) – were admitted to hospital.
Morabe suffered his second leg fracture in nine months, while Libbok was carted off the field and sent to hospital after a blow to the head by Toulon replacement Yannick Youyoutte in the 72nd minute.
Utility forward Ben-Jason Dixon also suffered a concussion and looks set to miss next week’s trip to London.
Dobson said that lock Ruben van Heerden is ‘sore'.
“It has been a bad day at the office", the coach concluded;
The new injury setbacks add to the problems of props Steven Kitshoff (neck surgery) and Frans Malherbe (ankle), lock Salmaan Moerat (knee surgery), loose forward Deon Fourie (shoulder surgery), loose forward Evan Roos (shoulder surgery), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (knee procedure and concussion) and Damian Willemse (groin surgery).
The good news for the Cape side is that Salmaan Moerat (knee), Sti Sithole, Frans Malherbe (both ankle), Deon Fourie (knee) and Sasha Feinburg-Mngomezulu (concussion) are all expected to make their return before the end of the year.
Springbok prop Steven Kitshoff (neck), Evan Roos (shoulder), Dan du Plessis, Ben Loader (both knee) and Damian Willemse (groin) all continue their rehab and are scheduled to return to play in 2025.