VIDEO: Boks Office - What's the point of SA in the Champions Cup?

WATCH as former Springbok head coach Nick Mallett alongside former Springboks Robbie Fleck and BOKS OFFICE host Hanyani Shimange express his frustration with the South African team’s poor performance in the Champions Cup and begs the question if it’s worthwhile for these sides to play in the prestigious competition.

Following a disastrous weekend for South African sides in the Champions Cup, with all three qualified teams losing their respective matches, Mallett gave a blunt assessment of the current state of South African sides participating in the competition.

“It was a shocker, just a dreadful weekend for South African rugby, it started with the Bulls,” Mallett said.

“A nice and hot day [in Tswane] and everyone thought Northampton are going to struggle a little bit.

“Bulls were all over them territorially and possession, couldn’t hold onto a pass and create a try and ended up losing the game.”

Mallett added: “You could see the Northampton Saints players after the game, they felt like they won a World Cup, they were so happy.

The former Springbok coach also questioned the approach of the South African sides regarding their methods on using player personnel in different competitions.

“Then two very weak sides being sent over [to Europe] by the Sharks and Stormers and getting 50 points each, so just a really disappointing weekend.

“There’s a lot of things we need to talk about here, just about the relevance of this competition for South African teams.

“If we aren’t able to pick our strongest side to play in the strongest competition, what’s the point?

“You’re getting sides like Ireland that would pick [Johnny] Sexton only for European Cup games and internationals and he wouldn’t play a URC game.

“We’re playing our Springboks trying to get into the European Cup and then we take our Springboks out when they go play an away game in a Champions Cup and that doesn’t make sense to me.”

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