The absence of South African teams in this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup last 16 should not be mistaken for insignificance.
The handprint of South African rugby on the tournament runs deep.
The South African legacy, over the past 30 years, is in those SA-born players who successfully chased club rugby’s most prestigious star.
The two most dominant teams of the past decade, Toulon and Saracens, had a strong South African presence and South Africans were influential in the title wins of Toulouse and Leinster.
If you dig deep enough, there is a South African story to be told from nearly every final, starting with SA-born and raised Bath flyhalf Mike Catt in 1998.
Catt, a former SA U20 player, became a mainstay at Bath and for England, and his name heads an impressive list of South Africans, many of them World Cup winners for South Africa and internationals for England.
This trend will continue at the weekend with a South African individual player flavour competing for clubs up north, while three of South Africa’s Vodacom URC teams, the Sharks and Vodacom Bulls and Lions play in the last 16 of the EPCR Challenge Cup.
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Toulon’s record-breaking golden era, in which they won three successive finals between 2013 and 2015 included World Cup winners Bakkies Botha, Juan Smith, Danie Rossouw and Bryan Habana, while loose forward Joe van Niekerk was among the SA pioneers at Toulon. Van Niekerk played 122 times for the club and led Toulon to their first title in 2013.
Saracens, when at their peak, had a Bok backbone, with hooker Schalk Brits, prop Vincent Koch, flanker Schalk Burger and scrumhalf Neil de Kock among the most influential Springboks at the club. Brad Barritt, a former SA U20 midfielder, would play for England and the British & Irish Lions and he would lead Saracens in some of their finest triumphs. Barritt and Brits both played more than 200 matches each for Saracens and De Kock finished with 250 matches for the English club.
Toulouse’s resurgence, in winning their fifth star, included the brilliance of winger Cheslin Kolbe and loose forward Rynardt Halstead, while current Springbok scrum coach Daan Human was a double star winner with Toulouse in a French club career that totalled 169 matches for Toulouse.
Toulouse added a sixth star last season with a pulsating win against Leinster.
Human, Gurthro Steenkamp and Shaun Sowerby are among the original SA trio to win the star with Toulouse and also play over 100 matches each for the club.
Former Springbok prop Heinke van der Merwe and SA born and raised hooker Richardt Strauss won two titles with Leinster and Van der Merwe would add an EPCR Challenge Cup gold playing for Stade Francais.
Kolbe also has a unique Champions Cup and Challenge Cup double, winning the former with Toulouse and the latter with Toulon.
EPCR chairman Dominic McKay spoke of the heritage and culture of the competition and how South Africa’s introduction has added to the culture and, in time, will do the same to the heritage of the world’s toughest rugby club competition.
“There is such a rich history of the competition and with the South African teams joining, it has made such a difference,” said McKay. “We couldn’t be more proud to have South Africa as part of the Investec Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup. The contribution that South Africa have made from a sporting point of view has been incredible. The contribution South Africa has made from a cultural point of view is equally important to me.
“I often talk about the importance of the values of rugby. The idea that this sport is more than just the 80 minutes on the field. It’s about everything that wraps around. It’s the values of the game. And that’s best expressed, I think, often by the transport and the movement of fans and travel.
“It is outstanding and that is something which we as a sport should be very protective of. It’s our unique selling point, perhaps, over other sports. And that idea of cultural exchanges, opportunities for the players to challenge themselves in a different hemisphere, sometimes altitude, is a wonderful experience for a player, for a coach and for the referees.”
SA-born Investec Champions Cup winners
Bath
Mike Catt (centre/flyhalf/fullback – 1998)
Northampton Saints
Garry Pagel (prop – 2000)
Leicester Tigers
Glen Gelderbloom (centre – 2001, 2002)
Munster
Trevor Halstead (centre – 2006)
Shaun Payne (fullback – 2006)
London Wasps
Stuart Abbott (centre – 2004)
Toulouse
Daan Human (prop – 2003, 2005)
Shaun Sowerby (No 8 – 2005
Gurthro Steenkamp (prop – 2010)
Cheslin Kolbe (wing/fullback – 2021)
Rynhardt Elstadt (flank/lock – 2021)
Toulon
Bakkies Botha (lock – 2013, 2014, 2015)
Bryan Habana (wing – 2014, 2015)
Danie Rossouw (lock/loose forward – 2013, 2014)
Juan Smith (flank – 2014, 2015)
Joe van Niekerk (No 8 – 2013)
Michael Claassens (scrumhalf – 2014)
Craig Burden (hooker – 2014)
Saracens
Neil de Kock (scrumhalf – 2016, 2017)
Schalk Brits (hooker – 2016, 2017)
Vincent Koch (prop – 2017, 2019
Brad Barritt (centre – 2016, 2017, 2019)
Schalk Burger (flank – 2019)
Mouritz Botha (lock – 2011)
Matt Stevens (prop – 2011)
Leinster
Richardt Strauss (hooker – 2011, 2012)
Heinke van der Merwe (prop – 2011, 2012)
Exeter Chiefs
Jacques Vermeulen (flank – 2020)
Jannes Kirsten (lock/flank – 2020)
La Rochelle
Dillyn Leyds (wing/fullback – 2022, 2023)
Raymond Rhule (wing – 2022)
Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
