Springboks legend questions South African teams’ priorities after Champions Cup debacle

Former Springboks fly-half Naas Botha and Stormers scrum-half Stefan Ungerer in action in the Champions Cup.

Former Springboks fly-half Naas Botha has urged South Africa’s franchises to start taking the Investec Champions Cup seriously after none of the country’s teams qualified for the prestigious tournament’s knockout phase this season.

After the South African sides were ousted from Super Rugby in 2020, SA Rugby aligned their domestic season with the northern hemisphere the following year as the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers combined with the Irish, Italian, Scottish and Welsh teams to create the United Rugby Championship (URC).

The South African teams were not included in the 2021/22 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup campaigns but from 2022/23 they have been involved in the continental competitions.

Although the Sharks were crowned Challenge Cup champions during the 2023/24 season, South African sides have not been fully committed to the Champions Cup and have often highlighted the difficulty in competing at their best in Europe’s biggest club tournament due to the travel factor.

With the teams also having to go back and forth during the URC season, it has made it particularly difficult for the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers.

However, Botha, who made 28 Test appearances for the Springboks between 1980 and 1992, feels it’s important that South African teams pay more respect to the Champions Cup.

‘What is next in order of importance?’

“Winning the World Cup is the ultimate achievement, but what is next in order of importance? In the old days it was Super Rugby, and now it has to be the Champions Cup or the United Rugby Championship,” he told Sunday newspaper Rapport.

“In my opinion, the Champions Cup is next in line because you are playing against the best in Europe and South Africa.”

This year’s last 16 of the Champions Cup will be dominated by French and English teams as those two countries will have six and five representatives competing in that stage of the tournament while three Irish sides and one apiece from Scotland and Italy will make up the rest of the teams in the play-offs.

By contrast, the South African sides the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers each won just one of their four group Champions Cup matches which resulted in each of those teams being knocked out before the business end of the competition.

“I don’t get the feeling that South Africa is prioritising the Champions Cup, based on some of the teams they send overseas. I know the journey is difficult, but from an outsider’s perspective it doesn’t seem like we hold the Champions Cup in high regard,” says Botha.

Botha believes it’s imperative that SA Rugby should abolish the salary cap for sides.

“If you want to spend a billion rand on a team, why not? It’s your money. We shouldn’t let our best players all play overseas. We should have enough money to keep them here,” he said.

‘No limits on how much teams want to spend’

“That’s what professional sport is about; there should be no limits on how much teams want to spend.

“Yes, we won the World Cup, but apart from that we haven’t won anything. We have four franchises and none of them can even make the Champions Cup play-offs. Our rugby isn’t that bad, come on! Give the franchises full ownership and they can bring back the top players.”

Botha feels the Champions Cup’s format is problematic. He wants to see the top four teams from the URC, Premiership and Top 14 competing in a Champions League, along with the four next best teams from each of the aforementioned tournaments.

The sides would then compete in a round of 16, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final.

“It will give every team something to play for every week, because at the moment we see B teams being sent for matches,” explained the 66-year-old.

“At the moment there are too many things that don’t make sense. Are we taking this seriously enough? I want to see the best play against the best. The other day I was watching a match and I only recognised three names in the starting 15 of one of the teams, and I’ve worked for SuperSport for 30 years! It doesn’t make sense.”

According to Botha, the URC also has a right to exist but it should be considered the second most important competition after the Champions Cup.

“The French and English clubs are not in the URC. Our teams need to rethink the matter and make the Champions Cup the No. 1 priority,” he said.

Botha also believes that to keep South Africa’s top players fresh, SA Rugby should reconsider the participation of the four top sides in the Currie Cup competition.

“I ask this, even if it goes against all my beliefs,” he said.