Champions Cup quarters: Happiness and heartache for SA coaches in Europe
· Citizen
For two South African coaches it was a good quarter-finals weekend in the Champions Cup, but for one other, Franco Smith, it was a weekend of heartache.
Smith, who led the Glasgow Warriors to the United Rugby Championship title two seasons ago, had to look on as his team lost their quarter-final 22-19 at home to Toulon on Saturday. The former Springbok midfielder will now look to the URC for glory this season.
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Glasgow lead the way in the URC with 55 points, four more than the second-placed Stormers, with four round robin games remaining before the knockouts.
But there was joy for two other South Africans in the quarter-finals, namely former Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber and Bok assistant Johann van Graan.
Nienaber, who has been involved with Leinster in Ireland since guiding the Boks to the 2023 World Cup title, helped Leinster, last season’s URC winners, to a victory over Sale Sharks at home, 43-13.
Van Graan, who was assistant Bok coach under Heyneke Meyer and Allister Coetzee between 2012 and 2017 before joining Munster, is currently in charge of Bath in England. And his team were too good for Northampton, winning a tight quarter-final 43-41.
The fourth and final quarter-final of the Champions Cup is between Bordeaux-Begles and Toulouse on Sunday afternoon (4pm).
In the semi-finals, scheduled for the first weekend of May, Nienaber’s Leinster will take on Toulon, while Bath’s opponents will be the winner of Sunday’s match in Bordeaux.
In the second tier Challenge Cup quarter-finals, Ulster beat La Rochelle 41-24 at home, Montpellier beat Connacht 45-22 at home and the Dragons pulled off a surprise away win of 35-32 against Zebre.
In Sunday’s final quarter-final, Benetton host Exeter.