MARK KEOHANE | SA rugby’s northern adventure will be fruitful in the long run

In a decade’s time, when South African rugby financially has never been healthier, it will all be because of the boldness of South African rugby’s national and franchise leadership to invest their future in Europe and say goodbye to the crazy travel schedule of Super Rugby and the 25 years of weighted disadvantages that restricted so much of the South African challenge.

SA’s front-line four regional powers have finally found a home in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and from next season the spin-off will be participation for three of the four in Europe’s elite Heineken Champions Cup. 

SA’s URC Shield winners, the Stormers, the fourth placed Bulls and the fifth placed Sharks will be a part of the 2022/23 Champions Cup knockout competition. It is a fabulous coontest with so much variety in terms of opposition and it is never the “same old”. 

The best teams from France’s Top 14 and England’s Premiership will play against the best of Ireland, SA, Wales and Scotland/Italy. Qualification for SA’s four teams is through the URC and for a team like the Lions, who did not qualify, there is the decent prize of playing in Europe’s second tier knockout club competition, the Challenge Cup.

This is the most exciting time for franchise rugby since the game turned professional and the original Super Rugby was launched in 1996. That was a potent tournament and the initial success story of professional rugby. 

The URC will ensure SA’s conveyor belt runs at the proper pace and it may even slow up the mass exodus of players who in the past decade have left so easily to play in Europe.

Now the URC, combined with the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, will become South African rugby’s success story. It was imperative that SA’s four teams immediately made an impact in the tournament. They did just this, despite a horror opening month.

The South African comeback in the middle and back end of the league has been inspiring and a new generation of players has stood tall to knock on the door of the national coach and national director of rugby. 

When the Springboks played England at Twickenham six months ago, just six of the match 23 were players in South African URC squads. In the next two years, expect that national number to rise considerably.

The URC will ensure SA’s conveyor belt runs at the proper pace and it may even slow up the mass exodus of players who in the past decade have left so easily to play in Europe.

There is now incentive to stay in SA and reap the rewards because all of SA’s regional rugby is played in Europe. 

Going north is the game changer for South African rugby. The Springboks will be as imposing as ever, possibly even more so because so much of the club game up north mirrors the demands of Test rugby.

SA’s all-round play will also improve. The English and French forwards will ensure that SA can never take a basketball approach into these respective leagues and the skill sets of the Irish provinces mean that SA’s teams can never regress to a forward-orientated and one-dimensional approach.

SA, in dominating overseas opposition, have also restored integrity and grunt to the prospect of playing in SA. Teams must love the hospitality and the travel, but fear the 80 minutes of rugby.

Young overseas players must yearn to talk of their rugby experience when playing in the republic.

SA needed to have two home play-offs, a top two finish and three teams in the top five in the inaugural URC. They did this in the most remarkable fashion in a league that in time all of SA will come to appreciate as pretty remarkable.

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.