South Africa, welcome to Europe, especially the Stormers, who will play in two degree temperatures a week after playing under gloriously sunny South African afternoon skies.
Hell, it isn’t going to be easy for any South African team in France or England. Be warned. The warning of not necessarily expecting the best outcome for those travelling, doesn’t mean it is all gloom. Those same French and English teams must travel to South Africa in the group stages of the Heineken and Challenge Cup European competitions.
The Stormers and Cheetahs are the only two South African teams in France this weekend. The other three are in South Africa, with the Sharks and Bulls playing at home in the Heineken Cup and the Lions hosting the Welsh Dragons in the Challenge Cup.
The Stormers are in Clermont in the Heineken Cup and the Cheetahs play Pau. It is a history-making weekend because officially South Africa’s five franchises are now a part of Europe’s two elite professional competitions.
The United Rugby Championship in its first season silenced many a critic by offering up a premier tournament that made sense, not just financially, but from a travelling and viewing perspective with the minimal time differences.
South Africa, though southern hemisphere by physical description, is aligned in time to the north and it was a pleasure to consistently watch rugby games between the afternoon to evening, regardless of whether they were home or away. It was also a pleasure to watch the Stormers win the tournament in its inaugural season.
The key to European success — in a season that is so long and part of a calendar that includes other tournaments concurrently — is to win your home games emphatically, and to try to get a point on the road.
There is now the joy of an additional South African challenge in Europe, in the Heineken Cup and Challenge Cup, but South African supporters need to understand the history of European tournaments to contextualise the way the season is bound to unfold.
The best French sides of the last 20 years, in Top 14, and Heineken Cup-winning seasons have taken some big ones away from home. It is the nature of travel in these tournaments. The key to European success — in a season that is so long and part of a calendar that includes other tournaments concurrently — is to win your home games emphatically, and to try to get a point on the road. An away victory is priceless en route to a place in the play-offs.
This is not a defeatist attitude; it is the reality of the strategy implemented to go the distance in tournaments like the Heineken Cup and the URC.
To give some context to the disparity in conditions, and the concurrency of tournaments. In last week’s URC round, the Stormers beat the Dragons on a summer’s afternoon at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. This weekend they take on Clermont in the Champions Cup in a climate where the high will be two degrees.
The Cheetahs play Pau in the six-degree cold of southwest France. The Sharks have picked a very strong side to host in Harlequins from London, while Lyon will get a taste of Loftus.
The hope is that both the Sharks and the Bulls win with a bonus point. The necessity for their tournament hopes is that they do so, every time they play at home. But be measured in your expectation of any South African team travelling throughout these tournaments. This weekend it’s the Stormers diving into Clermont’s cauldron, where their home record is fantastic. They went 77 matches unbeaten between 2010 and 2014 and they have won 32 from 35 European Cup competition matches at home.
There is a pattern to playing in European rugby competitions, and South Africa’s aim should be far from trying to change that pattern, but rather embracing it to their advantage. Make sure you never lose at home and know that any league point on the road is already a victory in the broader context of play-off qualifications.
Mark Keohane is the founder of keo.co.za, a multiple award-winning sports writer and the content director at Habari Media. Twitter: @mark_keohane
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