The world’s most celebrated rugby player Antoine Dupont playing in Durban and outside the northern hemisphere for only the second time in his career is one of several headline features of what should be an absorbing and high-jeopardy third round of the Investec Champions Cup.
Starting on Friday with Racing 92, Siya Kolisi’s old French club, visiting Glasgow to play against the Vodacom United Rugby Championship title holders, through to the final game on Sunday when Gallagher Premiership leaders Bath host awakening giants Clermont-Auvergne, it should be hard for those watching on television to tear themselves away from their screens.
But there are two stand-out games featuring the quality of the squad and standard of players that in the football equivalent of the Champions Cup, the European Champions League, saw the highly successful Real Madrid club come to be known as Galacticos because of the world-class performers that played for them.
In a week where South Africa’s most capped international player, Hollywoodbets Sharks lock Eben Etzebeth, spoke about how some of his peers and local supporters still didn’t quite appreciate the standing of the Champions Cup, which he views as the world’s top club competition, it is apt that the country will host it’s first real Galacticos fixture.
The DHL Stormers did host the then reigning champions La Rochelle last season and those who were there were stunned by the size and class of the visitors from France, with the narrow Stormers win in the pool game being an astounding achievement. But when it comes to international representation within the playing groups, those games didn’t touch what Hollywoodbets Kings Park patrons will be witnessing on Saturday evening when their team runs out to face Toulouse.
The visitors are six times winners of the competition, more than any other club or province, and they are brimful with French international players, headed by Dupont. The 28-year-old France scrumhalf played 24 minutes against the Springboks for France in 2017 at Saturday’s venue but has not played in a big league 15-man game south of the equator since then.
His anticipated presence in what should be a full-strength Toulouse team should be worth the price of the admission ticket alone, particularly because playing against him and his illustrious teammates will be an array of Bok World Cup winners who were involved in the spectacular and memorable World Cup quarterfinal between the two top rugby nations in 2023.
The Boks and France meet so rarely at the international level that the Durban game can be seen as a much-needed measure of the relative strengths of two teams, which many believe will be the favourites when the next RWC comes around in Australia in 2027.
There’s plenty of jeopardy at this juncture of the competition for several teams, and that includes the Sharks. With a tough away trip to Bordeaux Begles, currently second in the French Top 14 just one point behind Toulouse, coming up next, it is a must-win for a team likely to be led by Etzebeth.
Even though not recognised as such at the World Rugby Award level, the Bok lock could probably rival Dupont for the title of the world’s best player. He is certainly an iconic figure in the sport. The good news is that the 32-year-old is over his injury problems and is expected to be part of the Sharks effort, along with the powerful double World Cup winning hooker Bongi Mbonambi.
If the Durban fixture should be accorded Galacticos status, so should the one on Sunday when two-time champs La Rochelle host four-time champions Leinster. The two sides met in two spicy and close Champions Cup finals in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 and with former Ireland and Munster star Ronan O’Gara coaching the French side, there is plenty of rivalry between the two.
Leinster has only come to South Africa once with a full-strength team, that is for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship semi-final against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus last year. When at full muster Leinster do belong in the Galacticos bracket, as they are almost an Ireland international team in all but name, and they will have their top team against La Rochelle, who apart from their French internationals also feature international stars like Wallaby lock Will Skelton. The two protagonists are tied at the top of Pool 2 on nine points each. Toulouse is tied with Bordeaux, with 10 points each, in Pool 1, so that’s the visiting team’s motivation in the Kings Park game.
But there is also plenty to play for elsewhere this weekend, starting in Cape Town where Sale Sharks will be looking to cement a place in the top four of Pool 4, which means round of 16 qualification, against a Stormers team that is already on a playoff footing in the elite European competition. With two wins in two starts, and not so much as even a bonus point marked down in the points column, if Deon Fourie’s team loses next week’s game against Racing 92 in Paris, it will be of academic interest only.
There is heaps of pressure on the Bulls as they visit Castres, for not only do Jake White’s team need to win to keep their Champions Cup participation alive, but they also need to break what is now a three-match losing sequence across the two major competitions they play in - to Saracens and Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup and to the Sharks in the URC.
Some of the overseas URC teams that South Africans have become familiar with also play decisive games in this round, not the least of them Munster, who host Saracens at Thomond Park. Both clubs have a rich history in the competition and will be desperate to win.
The Italian team, Benetton, are relatively newcomers to this level but have made a good start with five points from two matches in Pool 2. If they can upset the Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate, they will be up with and maybe even ahead of whoever loses between La Rochelle and Leinster on the log come Sunday evening.
With Pool 4 leaders Toulon facing a potentially difficult date with Harlequins, who thumped the Stormers before Christmas, a Glasgow Warriors win over Racing in the first game of the weekend could elevate them to the top of the log with one game to play.
Investec Champions Cup Third Round (10/11/12 January): (SA Time)
Glasgow Warriors v Racing 92 (Glasgow, Friday 22.00)
DHL Stormers v Sale Sharks (Cape Town, Saturday 15.00)
Hollywoodbets Sharks v Toulouse (Durban, Saturday 17.15)
Exeter v Bordeaux Begles (Exeter, Saturday 17.15)
Munster v Saracens (Limerick, Saturday 19.30)
Stade Francais v Northampton Saints (Paris, Saturday 19.30)
Castres v Vodacom Bulls (Castres, Saturday 22.00)
Leicester Tigers v Ulster (Leicester, Saturday 22.00)
Toulon v Harlequins (Toulon, Sunday 15.00)
La Rochelle v Leinster (La Rochelle, Sunday 17.15)
Bristol v Benetton (Bristol, Sunday 17.15)
Bath v Clermont-Auvergne (Bath, Sunday 19.30)