Five lessons SA teams learnt from a tough Champions Cup campaign

South Africa will for the first time since entering the competition in 2022 have no representation in the knock-out stages of the Champions Cup. The Sharks, Bulls and Stormers all bowed out and were left with much to reflect upon.

Here are five takeaways from their latest collective failure:

Squad depth

Cultivating squad depth should remain a priority for South Africa's top franchises. That can partly be achieved from within through efficient academy structures, but it also needs to be augmented by shrewd dabbling in the transfer market.

The Champions Cup's most successful teams, Toulouse and Leinster, don't just have vast buying power — they have player development structures that ensure they always have a steady supply of talent that is funnelled into their senior ranks. Once the players reach senior status, they are seamlessly integrated into a system with which they are already familiar. Unlike SA's franchises, they are also far more likely to hold on to their young talent.

Bigger squad budgets

A few years back, SA Rugby increased the player salary budget for its top franchises from R67.2m to R85m. Squad sizes, which had been trimmed to help minimise further losses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, had been increased from 45 to 53 players. It was thought the increase would help close the gap between SA's teams and the heavy hitters in Europe — but that has not been the case.

SA's franchises also have to field teams in the United Rugby Championship, the Currie Cup and age-group levels. The rugby season, which now consumes the entire calendar, adds to player fatigue and attrition.

Franchise owners may be in favour of an increase, but SA Rugby has advocated the need for franchises to operate within their means and not repeat the folly that has seen clubs close down south of the equator.

Travel torture

More efficient ways have to be found to get rugby players criss-crossing the equator. It may be cheaper but flying via the Middle East and eastern Europe adds significantly to travel times, which contributes to fatigue and eats into coaches' time to prepare their teams.

Even in victory, teams lament time lost to travel — as was the case with Toulouse's celebrated coach Ugo Mola after his team beat the Sharks. After playing Top 14 rivals La Rochelle a week earlier, Mola admitted in the wake of his team's win in Durban how difficult it was to plan and execute a successful trip to South Africa. The complexities he explained were well-founded, but at least Mola has vast resources and institutional knowledge at his disposal.

Winning at home

With away wins devilishly difficult to come by, winning your Champions Cup matches at home is non-negotiable. However, home defeats cost South African entrants dearly as they were matched for muscle and outmanoeuvred by the streetwise operators from the north.

The Bulls' defeat to Northampton Saints at Loftus Versfeld, the Stormers' loss to Toulon at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and the Sharks going down to Toulouse at Kings Park all came at great cost to the home teams. It meant they somehow had to make up the shortfall on the road — but that proved a bridge too far.

Preaching patience

While South Africa's teams were left with much to ponder and improve upon in the Champions Cup, the commodity the local game now needs in endless supply is the mental fortitude to ride the storm. There is no doubt South Africa produces the players and the coaches good enough to compete at the apex of the European club game, but success was never going to arrive overnight.

Even before his team were shown the Champions Cup exit, Sharks coach John Plumtree insisted South African franchises will get better at it over time. Time will tell.