South Africa still remains a little distance from Europe. Don’t panic, neither Europe or South Africa have shifted off the continental crust and moved towards each other.

If either had, Donald Trump would probably have laid claim to both and then looked to rename them South Trumpica and Muskope.

The reference to South Africa still being a little distance from Europe is with reference to the South African teams having not managed to crack European competition, namely the Champions’ Cup.

That isn’t the case in the Challenge Cup of course, where the Sharks have already been victorious. However, when most South African supporters aimed their gaze away from Super Rugby, towards Europe, Champions’ Cup was the goal. 

What is the issue with South African teams in the Champions Cup?

The Hollywoodbets Sharks are out of the Champions Cup. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

The lack of meaningful penetration into European competition has come as a bit of a surprise to the writer of this column, whose fascination with South African rugby has led to him becoming at least 37% South African over the past few seasons and seen him drink Brandy and Coke in a volume not witnessed in the UK since the late 80s.

When the South African teams joined the United Rugby Championship it seemed reasonable that one/two of their teams would be semifinal/ final contenders with in the first three seasons.

But that hasn’t quite transpired. Not to the same degree that it has in the URC for example, where their presence has been felt since minute one.

As we enter the knockout rounds of the Champions’ Cup, none of the three South African teams involved in the pools have made the knockouts, with all three winning just three fixtures combined from 12 played – the Bulls and Sharks have of course made it into the Challenge Cup.

Whilst it has come as a surprise that the South African teams haven’t been able to adjust to the competition in the first few seasons, there are some valid reasons as to why.

Why are the South African teams struggling in the Champions Cup?

Firstly, the Champions’ Cup is no doddle. Look at Leinster for example. A team dedicated to and set up for European Competition, hasn’t been able to defeat the end boss for many a season.

They’ve made plenty of finals but failed to raise the trophy – even when they have razed virtually every team to the ground in the regular season. When a team such as Leinster finds it hard to win the silverware, maybe we need to address the parameters with which we’re judging South Africa’s success in the Champions’ Cup.

Toulouse’s French scrum-half Antoine Dupont lifts the trophy (Getty Images)

Another major problem is squad depth and cash. Wages in Europe and Japan are still hugely attractive to South African players – and who can blame them.

Read more: How to watch the upcoming Champions Cup knockout rounds

So, whilst being able to play overseas doesn’t affect the Boks, it does still affect their provincial system. In the most recent Bok alignment camp for example, 20 ish of the players from a total of 76 ish were based overseas.

That’s nearly an entire squad of players who could feature for one of the four South African provinces. If the South African teams had all of their players back home, it would be a very different story for both South African and European teams.

The South African teams would not only become stronger, but at the same time make their European competition weaker – it would be like a scene from Cocoon (mid 80’s cinematic reference for the older readers). 

We must also remember of course that the South African provinces don’t have the luxury of signing masses of overseas players. If they have weak spots in their squads, they can’t simply bring in a stack of Pacific Island problem solvers like they do in the Top 14 for instance. 

The South African season structure also doesn’t help their provincial level game. South African rugby is playing a hybrid season. In that their provinces are following the northern hemisphere calendar, but the Boks are still following the southern hemisphere schedule.

It means that player release at provincial level can be a difficult balance. This is also a particularly difficult issue to solve when player welfare is such an important concern in the modern game.

The South African provincial teams could arguably select better squads for European competition, but it would come at a significant cost for their player’s mental and physical wellbeing.

Should we expect more from the South African teams?

Then there’s the argument that maybe as a rugby public in Europe, and in South Africa, we’re expecting too much from the South African teams.

They were of course strong contenders when they played in Super Rugby and had great success, but it’s not as if they dominated the tournament every year – far from it.

Much of the above has led to criticism of the South African teams for possibly not selecting their strongest teams in Europe – especially when playing away. But when Saracens do it, as indeed they are for the knockout match against Toulon, the shouting is rather more muted.

But whilst there are certainly factors that can excuse/ explain the South African teams having a slow start in European competition, there are also some inescapable truths. The Sharks being a great example.

Whilst they’re currently fourth in the URC, one place behind the Bulls, their performances are so wildly unpredictable that their stat-graphs can give you motion sickness.

Related: The best South African rugby players of all time!

A team with a budget meatier than a boerewors, stuffed droëwors, then rammed full of biltong should be able to sustain a challenge in both the URC and European competition yet can’t.

You could argue that the Sharks’ desire to have a Bok in virtually every position is detrimental to squad cohesion and player availability. On occasions it seems as though building a brand has overtaken the need to build a team.

However, let’s not worry too much about South African rugby. As a pro rugby ‘funnel’ their structure in functioning perfectly – with test rugby performances paying the bills.

With the increased revenue from European rugby and the ability to bring back more and more of their quality players (Handre Pollard being a fine example), the next few seasons should hopefully see South African provincial rugby make as big a mark on Europe as it does at test level – at test level they’re left a literal and metaphorical mark on virtually everybody.