Saarks need to win or will go bust

So the Saarks blew their chances last night by allowing Munster back in the game. The didn't score a single point in the 2nd half. 

They are now out of the Euro and their only chance will be to win the comp.

Looking at the road ahead, they Travel to Dublin where they will have to beat Leinster at home. Last time out they got hammered by them. 

If they do some how win then they will have to face Ulster, don't think Connacht will win. 

On the other side you have the Stormer and Bools duking it out and Munster Vs Glasgow. 

So Saarks could spend a whole month up North having to try and win this thing. 

If they don't win, they would have spend all of this money on big name players and be worse off for it. 

Ebenezer probably had 5 games for them this whole season. 

Quotalisi missed fired in his leadership, Bongi was fine. Mpimpi was okay. 

It has been a very costly season . 

If the win the URC then great but don't count on it. 

One good thing is that the boks will at least be fresh but looking at the injury list, we have Etzebeth, Hendrikse and now Kolisi all in the sick bay 

Kolisi is no loss. Hendrickse has actually been by far the best Bok 9, alongside Reinach. That could be a considerable loss. Eben would be a massive loss. 

Because South African rugby is not a shareholder of the Champions Cup, they are not entitled to the participation money the other teams get, so in effect Sharks are not down any money if they don't qualify. Its also the reason South African teams currently would have to play any champions cup semi final (possible quarter final as well) away from home even if they are the higher seeded team.

It will remain this way next season but South African rugby will become shareholders from 2024-2025 season, so at that stage they should be fully entitled to all the participation money and have the right to host quarters and semi finals if their teams make that far and are the higher seed.

Thanks Stavanger, hopefully the Welsh will improve, but we should then take the Euro cup as a development game given the schedule and amount of unnecessary travel. I think what the bools did and to a certain degree the Saarks,

But finishing 8th when you have a springbok laden team. It didn’t help that they dropped their coach halfway through and appointed a seven coach, 

But there is a serious culture problem at the Saarks. I get the impression that they are trying to black wash the team. I Dior think most of those players are there on merit but to lose players like Vermeulen to Exceter, Roos to name a few. It is just beggars belief. 

Then Pepsi is good, but haven’t set the word alight and not physical enough for me. 

Let’s see if plummers come back and wether they can have good off season 

I dunno how the Welsh teams are going cope with a further reduction in wages next season. Up till about two seasons ago there was also one strong Welsh team, either the Ospreys or more recently the Scarlets but they have dropped back down the picking order. Welsh Rugby seems to be in disarray and I'm not sure how quickly they can bounce back.

From what I've heard it sounds like the Sharks owners are pretty keen on doing well in the Champions cup. But I think while on paper the South African teams are very strong, they lack squad depth to compete in the both the URC and Champions Cup.

Think of it this way, Super Rugby was a sprint, URC/Champions Cup is a marathon where endurance counts. Yes that mean's playing at full strength less often, but it also mean's the teams get to develop more depth which should help the national team.

I do think the Sharks looking at the team on paper at least are under achieving, yes travel is more difficult for the South African teams but I don't think the Sharks and also the Lions coaching teams are not as good as what the northern teams have.

I can't tell whether Jake White is one of those coaches who is brilliant with a team at first and then the team gets sick of him (ala Eddie Jones) so I'll reserve judgement on him but Dobbo seems like a really good coach and a pr etty decent bloke as well.

Ja, Dobbo was really struggling in Super rugby and found life really difficult but the Stormers held onto him, not to mention the Covid break. Stormers was really poor at one stage. 

Well, I think the new sharks owner has a massive ego and want to buy success. Rugby is not that type of game where you just buy a bunch of stars. 

It takes years to mould a team and you have to do it from age group. 

So you are right, it is a Marathon. 

Even though I hate one sided contest, Leinster being hammered but those players will be a lot better next season. 

I think the Stormers are on the right track and so are the bools. You can see the talent of Moodie, Sacha, Hartzenberg to name a few. 

The only trick is to hold onto these players long enough.

But finishing 8th when you have a springbok laden team.

Having international players may be a liability as they are expected to perform the best for the international squad.

But there is a serious culture problem at the Saarks. I get the impression that they are trying to black wash the team. I Dior think most of those players are there on merit but to lose players like Vermeulen to Exceter, Roos to name a few. It is just beggars belief.

SA rugby massive problem is not to be found in the international squad unexisting quota policy.

It is the so small number of professional quota players, cant even name a full squad with quota players only.

As a result, any side signing a large number of international players may be suspected by superior minded people of black washing.