It will take a world-class squad and some fine back-up players for a team from the Republic to win the Champions Cup, writes MARK KEOHANE.
Writing for TimesLIVE, Keohane highlights that Toulouse and Leinster, the 2023-24 Champions Cup finalists, are the strongest teams in the EPCR competition due to their abundance of internationals and strategic recruitment.
He believes this is the standard South Africa’s Vodacom URC contingent of the Vodacom Bulls, Lions, Sharks and DHL Stormers must meet to win the Champions Cup.
Keohane notes that the Bulls are developing a squad capable of this, while the Lions have not started building theirs, but the Stormers are three marquee players short of being contenders while also competing in the URC.
The Sharks, he argues, boast the most potent starting XV, featuring four World Cup-winning Springbok forwards, but lack quality in their reserves.
Keohane emphasises that depth in quality players is essential, as demonstrated by Leinster and Toulouse’s ability to manage their top players effectively, enabling them to compete in both league and European cup competitions.
“Toulouse and Leinster, finalists in a breathtaking 102-minute spectacle at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London a week ago, produced a Test-match classic, in the guise of a club final,” he writes.
“This is the bridge that South Africa’s URC quartet of the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers must navigate if they are to win the Champions Cup.
“The travel, combined with the quality of opposition, makes it seem an impossibility for a South African team to juggle two competitions and triumph in the Champions Cup. The Challenge Cup, for all the fanfare in South Africa last weekend, is not the Champions Cup.
“Squad depth, in quality, is what defines the very best.”
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