Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) super-showdown in Cape Town between the Stormers and Bulls demands a crowd in excess of 20,000. This match is bigger than the result. It is about the health of South African rugby and requires a statement from this country’s fans that there remains an appetite for the biggest matches between north and south.
It doesn’t get bigger in SA than the Bulls vs the Stormers. The Lions and Sharks demand respect, as do the Cheetahs, when we talk about the traditional powerhouses of South African rugby. It was always about those five for 100 years of amateur rugby and it has been about them since the game turned professional in 1996.
All have their respective rivalries, but traditionally there is no bigger attraction than an in-form Bulls playing an in-form Stormers.
The teams have met 37 times since 1996 in Super Rugby, Super Rugby Unlocked, in the Rainbow Cup SA and once in the URC. Just one point separates the two since 1996, with the Bulls on average 23-22 winners, though the Stormers have won 21 and drawn once in their 38 matchups.
There has been the occasional blowout, like when the world-beating Bulls slaughtered the Stormers 75-14 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. On that particular day they were in contrast. The Bulls were the best provincial team in the world and the Stormers were at their lowest.
On Saturday they will be riding high in the URC, having won their last four matches at home against overseas opposition. Both teams have beaten Ireland’s impressive Ulster in the past fortnight and have played exceptional rugby doing so.
The Bulls’ second-half performance against Ulster was their most dynamic of the season and the Stormers’ opening 20 minutes against the Ospreys was as good as you will see when it comes to effective try-scoring offloading in the tackle.
It was rugby poetry in Pretoria and in Cape Town at the weekend and it is good fortune for every South African rugby supporter that these heavyweights clash when they are running hot.
The individual talents of both groups of players, coupled with the importance of the match in the context of the tournament play-offs, should be enough of a sell for any rugby lover based in Cape Town.
The kickoff time, 2pm, has been scripted by the rugby gods and the match-up, at No 8 between the Stormers’ Evan Roos and the Bulls’ Elrigh Louw, is one to witness from the stands.
Equally, the prospect of the two loose-forward veterans, Marcell Coetzee (Bulls) and Deon Fourie (Stormers), scrapping for dominance at the breakdown.
This match has everything in venue, time, quality of players, occasion and importance of the occasion.
The Bulls leadership, in ensuring a crowd to add voice to the brilliance of the players against Ulster, dropped ticket prices to R25 and even added a brandy and coke R25 special. They hoped 25,000, the ground capacity in the Covid-19-restricted climate, would make the effort.
They fell just short of 20,000 and the challenge to rugby supporters in the Western Cape, and there are plenty Bulls supporters there, is to beat the number at Loftus because of the guaranteed quality of rugby.
The URC, because of Covid-19, has been unfairly prejudged as lacking the appeal of Super Rugby. I disagree.
The URC, in the next decade, will become one of the premier professional club competitions in the game and South Africans will appreciate the value of the tournament to the professional wellbeing of the rugby in this country.
For now, local supporters, through stadium numbers on Saturday, can tell the world the South African game is strong and rich in support.
Mark Keohane is the founder of Keo.co.za, a multiple award-winning sports writer and the digital content director at Highbury Media. Twitter @mark_keohane
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