The Vodacom Bulls have arguably the toughest fixture list of the local teams for the group phase of the 2025/2026 Investec Champions Cup as they have been drawn in the same Pool as the two finalists from this past season, the winners Bordeaux-Begles and Northampton Saints.
The Bulls haven’t played Bordeaux in the Champions Cup before but they were upset by Saints at Loftus last season and were also outplayed by the same team in the 2023/2024 quarterfinal at Franklin Gardens.
So regardless of where the game is to be played, with that to be decided later, the Bulls will feel they owe their opponents one.
Not that the Bulls are alone in having to face tough opponents in the early phases of the competition.
Indeed, all three South African teams participating in next season’s edition of the Champions Cup will have matches against teams who have won the competition within the last three seasons on their schedule.
Whether or not the local sides will see it as an intimidating prospect or a chance to measure themselves against the best, they will be up against a stiff challenge as current champions Bordeaux, the previous season’s winners Toulouse and the side that won it the for two consecutive years before that, feature among their pool phase opponents.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks hosted Toulouse in Durban this year and as they are in the same pool as the French heavyweights again it looks likely they may have to travel to France this time around if they want to avenge the 20-8 defeat they suffered in January.
The Sharks lost the 2022/2023 quarterfinal in Toulouse.
There are four pools of six teams each, with each team having to play the four sides that don’t feature in their domestic competitions.
So for instance the Sharks are included in the same group as Glasgow Warriors, the Vodacom United Rugby Champions of the 2024 term, but won’t get to play them.
Apart from Toulouse, they will play the other Sharks, Sale Sharks from England, plus Saracens and Clermont Auvergne.
They beat the latter in a tight semifinal on route to winning the 2023/2024 EPCR Challenge Cup.
