The Bulls, Sharks and Stormers will take part in three different competitions at the same time next season, which will – due to the European program – kick off again by September this year, after they have all qualified for the European Rugby Champions Cup.

Ulster’s hard-fought win over Edinburgh on Saturday, has assured the three contending South African teams of entry into this tough northern hemisphere tournament, which was formerly known as the Heineken Cup.

In this tournament, the qualifying eight teams from the United Rugby Championship (URC) compete in a league of 24 teams against the top eight from the English Premier League, as well as the top eight from the French Top 14 league. The teams do not all play against each other in a round robin phase, but a draw is held to select pools in which the teams must then qualify similarly to the World Cup structure to advance to the next phase.

The Ulster win means that when the South African sides head to the north three weeks from now for the final round of URC fixtures, all three of them – the Sharks, Stormers and Bulls – will be ahead of the two Scottish sides on the overall log.

And with three points between them and the Bulls, who are the third local team at present, the fact the Scottish sides meet in their return derby in Edinburgh means that only one Scottish team can make it into Champions Cup qualification.

The way it works is that the eight top teams on the overall log advance to the URC play-offs, to be played out from the end of May into June, while the four confederation/group winners – Ireland, Scotland/Italy, Wales and South Africa – automatically qualify for the Champions Cup with the four next best teams joining them.

The Lions surrendered interest in the Champions Cup and the play-offs a while ago, but the quest for the other South African teams, if they all want to qualify for rugby’s equivalent of soccer’s Champions League, was always to either finish ahead of the third Irish team or the second Scottish team.

That mission has now been accomplished with a round to go, with the final round Scotland derby now all about which of the two Scottish teams will advance to the lucrative Champions Cup next season.

Therefore, from the next European season South African rugby fans will for the first time be able to experience the full consequence of SA Rugby’s decision to leave SuperRugby and rather join the northern hemisphere’s competition structure.

This state of affairs also explains the initial point of view of the Bulls’ Director of Rugby, Jake White, that a group of players had to be built with proper depth to be able to compete in the two European competitions, as well as the local Currie Cup tournament.

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram