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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bulls made history last week when they recorded their third consecutive loss in a Champions Cup campaign. With the most recent result – a 49-10 loss to Castres in France – Jake White’s side became the first South African team to be eliminated before the knockout phase.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, the Sharks and Stormers’ hopes of qualifying for the Champions Cup playoffs hang by a thread. Both teams rank fourth in their respective pools, and both need victories this weekend to guarantee their places in the next round.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It’s a big ask, given the struggles in Europe over the course of the campaign. The Bulls, Sharks and Stormers have combined for zero wins in four overseas fixtures, averaging 12 points for and 46 points against per match.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But if the Stormers beat Racing 92 in Paris this Saturday and the Sharks down Bordeaux-Begles on Sunday, the coastal sides will progress to the next phase of the tournament.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is, however, a chance that these teams will qualify regardless of the outcome of their matches in France, providing that other results go their way.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2549698\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2192721186-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1733\" height=\"1156\" /> <em>Ben Loader of the Stormers during their Champions Cup match against Sale Sharks at Cape Town Stadium on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images / Getty Images)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2549697\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TL_2318145-1.jpg\" alt=\"Champions Cup\" width=\"1707\" height=\"1167\" /> <em>The Bulls’ Cameron Hanekom in action against the Northampton Saints in a Champions Cup match at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on 14 December. (Photo: Gordon Arons / Gallo Images)</em></p>\r\n<h4><b>European travel a certainty for qualifiers</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a broader sense, it appears as if the South African clubs have already blown their chances of advancing to the latter stages of the tournament and contending for the title itself.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if the Sharks and Stormers qualify for the playoffs, they will be forced to travel for the round of 16, which will be staged in the first week of April.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the first time since the competition expanded in 2022, none of the South African teams is in a position to host a Champions Cup playoff.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The importance of home advantage in this inter-hemisphere showpiece cannot be overstated. In the two previous editions South African teams won all playoffs on home soil, while losing every knockout match staged in Europe.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South African teams relish the underdog tag, and might spring the odd surprise in the playoffs.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But history as well as current form suggest that four consecutive knockout victories in Europe is an unrealistic expectation, whether the World Cup-winning Springboks are playing or not.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What’s more, South Africa’s Champions Cup challenge is further diluted by the fact that their teams compete in a second intercontinental tournament – the United Rugby Championship (URC) – at the same time.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2549696\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2192773451.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1785\" height=\"1132\" /> <em>Emmanuel Tshituka of the Sharks is tackled by Stade Toulousain players during their Champions Cup clash at Kings Park in Durban on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Steve Haag Sports / Gallo Images / Getty Images)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2549695\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2192729100.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1682\" height=\"1190\" /> <em>Paul de Wet of the Stormers scores a try against Sale Sharks at Cape Town Stadium on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images / Getty Images)</em></p>\r\n<h4><b>URC may take precedence</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stormers coach John Dobson summed up the situation quite neatly when he described the URC as the local teams’ “the day job”.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top South African clubs are gunning for the URC title – the Stormers won it in 2022, while the Bulls made the final in 2022 and 2024 – while all four contenders are jousting for a top-eight finish that will guarantee participation in the next instalment of the Champions Cup, the pre-eminent club tournament which promises greater commercial and financial rewards.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As crazy as it sounds, the South African teams may have to deprioritise the current Champions Cup in order to qualify for the next Champions Cup.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dobson, White and Sharks boss John Plumtree have expressed their opinions about the current season structure and the toll it continues to take on the players, and ultimately the impact it has on team performance and results.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the point about player welfare is valid, it should be noted how all three teams have contributed to their current log position, via a series of underwhelming performances in the early stages of the tournament.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How different would the Bulls’ season look if they’d been slightly more competitive in the two away matches against Saracens and Castres, or if they’d won their home fixture against Northampton Saints?</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where would the Stormers be sitting if they’d won their “home” match against Toulon? The game was moved to Gqeberha because the Cape Town Sevens was held at the venue in Green Point.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What if the Sharks had salvaged a losing bonus point in matches against Leicester and Toulouse?</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2549694\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2192723307.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1759\" height=\"1134\" /> <em>Manie Libbok scores for the Stormers against Sale Sharks in a Champions Cup match in Cape Town on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images / Getty Images)</em></p>\r\n<h4><b>Difficult choice</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As it stands, all three sides may be compromised – across both tournaments – as the season wears on, and especially when the first two rounds of the European playoffs are staged in early April.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Stormers will tour Scarlets and Ulster in late March, before featuring in a potential Champions Cup playoff in Europe. If they win that latter fixture, they will remain in the northern hemisphere for a fourth consecutive week, and gear up for a quarterfinal.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Around the same time, the Sharks will play URC matches against Zebre and Leinster at home, before travelling for a playoff in Europe.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the Sharks lose this weekend, and drop to fifth in their pool, they will miss out on the Champions Cup knockouts, but progress to the playoffs of the Challenge Cup, Europe’s second-tier tournament.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, the Bulls have an outside mathematical chance to move up to fifth in their Champions Cup pool if they beat Stade Francais this Saturday, and qualify for the Challenge Cup playoffs.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It would be interesting to see how the Bulls approach the game – and whether they devote more of their energy to pushing for the Challenge Cup title, which the Sharks won last season – considering the playoff will be held after they face Leinster and Zebre at home in the URC.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This weekend, the Lions will need to beat the Dragons in Johannesburg to keep their Challenge Cup playoff hopes alive. Even if they progress, they will have to travel for the knockouts.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There’s been so much talk about the Lions pushing for a top-eight spot in the URC, having failed to qualify for the playoffs in the three previous tournaments. Coach Cash van Rooyen may opt to prioritise the two-match tour to Cardiff and Glasgow in late March, rather than cotton-wool his star players for the subsequent Challenge Cup playoffs in Europe.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At this stage there is little hope of a South African team winning a European title this season. Indeed, it would come as a surprise if one or more of these teams bucked the trend, and won a playoff on foreign soil. </span><b>DM</b>",
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"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bulls made history last week when they recorded their third consecutive loss in a Champions Cup campaign. With the most recent result – a 49-10 loss to Castres in France – Jake White’s side became the first South African team to be eliminated before the knockout phase.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, the Sharks and Stormers’ hopes of qualifying for the Champions Cup playoffs hang by a thread. Both teams rank fourth in their respective pools, and both need victories this weekend to guarantee their places in the next round.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It’s a big ask, given the struggles in Europe over the course of the campaign. The Bulls, Sharks and Stormers have combined for zero wins in four overseas fixtures, averaging 12 points for and 46 points against per match.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But if the Stormers beat Racing 92 in Paris this Saturday and the Sharks down Bordeaux-Begles on Sunday, the coastal sides will progress to the next phase of the tournament.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is, however, a chance that these teams will qualify regardless of the outcome of their matches in France, providing that other results go their way.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2549698\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1733\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-2549698\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2192721186-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1733\" height=\"1156\" /> <em>Ben Loader of the Stormers during their Champions Cup match against Sale Sharks at Cape Town Stadium on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images / Getty Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2549697\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1707\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-2549697\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TL_2318145-1.jpg\" alt=\"Champions Cup\" width=\"1707\" height=\"1167\" /> <em>The Bulls’ Cameron Hanekom in action against the Northampton Saints in a Champions Cup match at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on 14 December. (Photo: Gordon Arons / Gallo Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n<h4><b>European travel a certainty for qualifiers</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a broader sense, it appears as if the South African clubs have already blown their chances of advancing to the latter stages of the tournament and contending for the title itself.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if the Sharks and Stormers qualify for the playoffs, they will be forced to travel for the round of 16, which will be staged in the first week of April.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the first time since the competition expanded in 2022, none of the South African teams is in a position to host a Champions Cup playoff.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The importance of home advantage in this inter-hemisphere showpiece cannot be overstated. In the two previous editions South African teams won all playoffs on home soil, while losing every knockout match staged in Europe.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South African teams relish the underdog tag, and might spring the odd surprise in the playoffs.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But history as well as current form suggest that four consecutive knockout victories in Europe is an unrealistic expectation, whether the World Cup-winning Springboks are playing or not.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What’s more, South Africa’s Champions Cup challenge is further diluted by the fact that their teams compete in a second intercontinental tournament – the United Rugby Championship (URC) – at the same time.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2549696\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1785\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-2549696\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2192773451.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1785\" height=\"1132\" /> <em>Emmanuel Tshituka of the Sharks is tackled by Stade Toulousain players during their Champions Cup clash at Kings Park in Durban on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Steve Haag Sports / Gallo Images / Getty Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2549695\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1682\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-2549695\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2192729100.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1682\" height=\"1190\" /> <em>Paul de Wet of the Stormers scores a try against Sale Sharks at Cape Town Stadium on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images / Getty Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n<h4><b>URC may take precedence</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stormers coach John Dobson summed up the situation quite neatly when he described the URC as the local teams’ “the day job”.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top South African clubs are gunning for the URC title – the Stormers won it in 2022, while the Bulls made the final in 2022 and 2024 – while all four contenders are jousting for a top-eight finish that will guarantee participation in the next instalment of the Champions Cup, the pre-eminent club tournament which promises greater commercial and financial rewards.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As crazy as it sounds, the South African teams may have to deprioritise the current Champions Cup in order to qualify for the next Champions Cup.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dobson, White and Sharks boss John Plumtree have expressed their opinions about the current season structure and the toll it continues to take on the players, and ultimately the impact it has on team performance and results.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the point about player welfare is valid, it should be noted how all three teams have contributed to their current log position, via a series of underwhelming performances in the early stages of the tournament.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How different would the Bulls’ season look if they’d been slightly more competitive in the two away matches against Saracens and Castres, or if they’d won their home fixture against Northampton Saints?</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where would the Stormers be sitting if they’d won their “home” match against Toulon? The game was moved to Gqeberha because the Cape Town Sevens was held at the venue in Green Point.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What if the Sharks had salvaged a losing bonus point in matches against Leicester and Toulouse?</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2549694\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1759\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-2549694\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2192723307.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1759\" height=\"1134\" /> <em>Manie Libbok scores for the Stormers against Sale Sharks in a Champions Cup match in Cape Town on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images / Getty Images)</em>[/caption]\r\n<h4><b>Difficult choice</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As it stands, all three sides may be compromised – across both tournaments – as the season wears on, and especially when the first two rounds of the European playoffs are staged in early April.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Stormers will tour Scarlets and Ulster in late March, before featuring in a potential Champions Cup playoff in Europe. If they win that latter fixture, they will remain in the northern hemisphere for a fourth consecutive week, and gear up for a quarterfinal.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Around the same time, the Sharks will play URC matches against Zebre and Leinster at home, before travelling for a playoff in Europe.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the Sharks lose this weekend, and drop to fifth in their pool, they will miss out on the Champions Cup knockouts, but progress to the playoffs of the Challenge Cup, Europe’s second-tier tournament.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, the Bulls have an outside mathematical chance to move up to fifth in their Champions Cup pool if they beat Stade Francais this Saturday, and qualify for the Challenge Cup playoffs.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It would be interesting to see how the Bulls approach the game – and whether they devote more of their energy to pushing for the Challenge Cup title, which the Sharks won last season – considering the playoff will be held after they face Leinster and Zebre at home in the URC.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This weekend, the Lions will need to beat the Dragons in Johannesburg to keep their Challenge Cup playoff hopes alive. Even if they progress, they will have to travel for the knockouts.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There’s been so much talk about the Lions pushing for a top-eight spot in the URC, having failed to qualify for the playoffs in the three previous tournaments. Coach Cash van Rooyen may opt to prioritise the two-match tour to Cardiff and Glasgow in late March, rather than cotton-wool his star players for the subsequent Challenge Cup playoffs in Europe.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At this stage there is little hope of a South African team winning a European title this season. Indeed, it would come as a surprise if one or more of these teams bucked the trend, and won a playoff on foreign soil. </span><b>DM</b>",
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Ben Loader of the Stormers during their Champions Cup match against Sale Sharks at Cape Town Stadium on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images / Getty Images)
The Bulls’ Cameron Hanekom in action against the Northampton Saints in a Champions Cup match at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on 14 December. (Photo: Gordon Arons / Gallo Images)
Emmanuel Tshituka of the Sharks is tackled by Stade Toulousain players during their Champions Cup clash at Kings Park in Durban on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Steve Haag Sports / Gallo Images / Getty Images)
Paul de Wet of the Stormers scores a try against Sale Sharks at Cape Town Stadium on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images / Getty Images)
Manie Libbok scores for the Stormers against Sale Sharks in a Champions Cup match in Cape Town on 11 January 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images / Getty Images)