Dublin disappointment sums up SA club season

OPINION: The South African franchises need to admit that they were out-played and out-coached over the course of the 2024-25 club season.

South African sport is riding a wave of euphoria following the Proteas’ victory against Australia in the World Test Championship at Lord’s this past Saturday.

Many have marked the result as a watershed and have celebrated the fact that – for the first time – South Africa hold the world titles in Test cricket and rugby.

On the same day, former Bulls and South Africa assistant coach Johann van Graan and Springbok prop Thomas du Toit won the English Premiership final, and clinched the ‘treble’ with a resurgent Bath outfit.

Across the Irish Sea, World Cup-winning coach Jacques Nienaber and two-time champion RG Snyman drank from the United Rugby Championship trophy, following Leinster’s 32-7 win over the Bulls.

It’s a great time to be a South African sports fan – and a great time for rugby lovers, who will turn their attention to the first British & Irish Lions fixture against Argentina this Friday, and to the Boks’ season-opener against the Barbarians next week.

Will anyone reflect on the performances of the South African franchises, given how much other sport and rugby is on the go?

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The lessons to be learnt from the Croke Park massacrehttps://t.co/nGxrOMNYGW

— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) June 16, 2025

We’re still celebrating the triumph at Lord’s, as well as the South Africans who have achieved something special with Bath and Leinster.

Does anyone want an honest assessment that threatens to kill that buzz?

Some of the results and performances have indeed been sobering.

The Bulls’ recent display in Dublin, for example, was even more disappointing than the result.

Leinster neutralised the Bulls scrum, bossed the collisions, and got under the skin of the visitors.

They dominated the kicking battle and converted the bulk of their scoring chances, racing to a 19-0 lead by half-time.

For all the pre-match talk of taking the fight to a Leinster team stacked with Ireland stars, the Bulls struggled to impose themselves physically.

When they did manage to play themselves into Leinster territory, their limited attacking approach was repelled by the Nienaber-inspired defence, and the Bulls’ senior players appeared devoid of ideas.

It’s true that the South African franchises don’t have the same budget as some of the elite European clubs, but the squads of the Bulls and Sharks aren’t exactly short on quality and experience.

It’s for this reason that the recent performance in Dublin was particularly disappointing, as so many Boks were on the field.

This is not to say that the Bulls should have won at Croke Park, but that they should at the very least have pushed Leinster close.

Some betting markets gave the Bulls a 12-point handicap before the game, which I felt was insulting. There’s evidence to suggest that they are a far better team than that.

The Bulls were wildly inconsistent throughout their European campaign, losing to Northampton Saints at home during the Champions Cup pool phase, beating Bayonne away in the Challenge Cup Round of 16, and going down to Edinburgh in the quarterfinals.

After losing a few games that they should have won during the derby block of the URC, they edged a Leinster side that included Snyman and Jordie Barrett in Pretoria, and made a statement by beating Munster and Glasgow Warriors in the Northern Hemisphere.

They finished the URC in second place, and went on to smash Edinburgh and the Sharks in the play-offs staged in Pretoria.

Travelling overseas for the final was always going to be a tough ask – although it didn’t hamper Munster and Glasgow in 2023 and 2024, who went on to win their respective deciders in Cape Town and Pretoria.

The odds were against the Bulls in Dublin, but they had reason to believe they could compete against one of the best clubs in the world.

After the game, Bulls coach Jake White suggested that this was not the case.

This has become something of a theme in South African rugby, with coaches attempting to explain away losses and shocking performances by pointing to logistical challenges and financial constraints.

The French and Irish teams have bigger budgets, and can cope with the demands of competing in two major tournaments and across hemispheres for 10 months of the year.

But really, can such an excuse be used as a Get of Jail Free card in every situation?

South African expectations should be tempered, but poor performances should not be tolerated.

When a fully loaded Sharks team goes to Bordeaux to play the form team in the Champions Cup – as they did during the pool phase this past season – they start the match as underdogs, in spite of their large Springbok contingent.

Nobody expects them to win, but then nobody expects them to lose 12-66 either. That kind of margin is unacceptable.

In the past, the better teams have prevailed when hosting top teams in South Africa.

More recently, they have lost big Champions Cup matches at home, with the Bulls losing to Northampton, the Sharks slipping against Toulouse, and the Stormers going down to Toulon.

It should go without saying, but home losses are unacceptable.

Change is needed at all four franchises, albeit to varying degrees.

The Lions are South Africa’s basket case, having failed to qualify for the URC play-offs in four consecutive seasons.

They will continue to make up the numbers in 2025-26, unless significant changes are made to their coaching structures, and to the playing squad. Over the past year, many of the same players who featured in the Currie Cup were used in the URC and Challenge Cup.

The Sharks are South African rugby’s biggest disappointment, given the resources and players at their disposal and their underwhelming return in major tournaments.

It’s hard to believe that a squad stacked with players who have won World Cups and beaten the Lions can’t even qualify for the Champions Cup play-offs, or push some of the better teams close in the URC knockouts. Over the past four seasons, the Sharks have qualified for a single semifinal.

As is the case with all of the South African teams, the balance in the Sharks coaching box is out of kilter, and could do with some fresh ideas.

The Stormers don’t have the same resources, and as a result, aren’t held to the same high standards.

That said, the results show how they have regressed since winning the URC in 2022. The manner of their most recent defeat in Glasgow certainly highlighted their defensive and game management shortcomings.

Will they take these lessons on board in the coming months, or will they push forward with the same coaching dynamic and approach in 2025-26? What will it say about the Cape franchise if they lose another URC quarter-final next season?

John Dobson is the right man to take the Stormers forward, just as Jake White is the right man to spearhead the Bulls’ quest for a long-awaited title.

The big question for both men – as well as the decision-makers at the Sharks – is whether they can make some uncomfortable yet necessary changes before the new season kicks off.

We should hold the Bulls to the highest standard, because they are the best team in the country.

We should acknowledge that they don’t have the same budget as Leinster or Toulouse, but we should also remember that they have beaten some of the better teams in recent seasons.

If we’re measuring them by their past wins against Leinster, and by more recent away victories against Munster and Glasgow, we should expect them to compete in a URC final staged in Dublin.

Furthermore, we should not accept that a 25-point defeat was a foregone conclusion.

The good news for the Bulls is that their squad will be significantly strengthened in the coming months.

Experienced players such as Handré Pollard, Jan Serfontein, Marvin Orie and Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg are set to join the Pretoria-based club, and the Bulls could boast more than 20 players with international experience in their group.

With these signings, there will be reason to expect more of the Bulls next season.

How they bolster their coaching team and how they tweak their approach, of course, may determine whether they end their campaign with a trophy or not.