Ever since South African rugby made the decision to leave Super Rugby and join northern hemisphere competitions, there have been mixed results and news.
For the most part, the move into the URC has been well received and resulted in some epic matches. However, the Champions Cup – despite being such an elite competition – has not always delivered the contests expected.
Due to the overlapping competitions, intense travel schedule and player workloads, it’s now reported that SA Rugby are likely to withdraw teams from the Champions Cup, as well as the lower tier Challenge Cup.
With South African sides having consistently struggled to make it into the latter stages of the competition, often sending weakened teams into action, it quite simply hasn’t worked out as expected.
Goodbye to Champions Cup action for SA teams
President of SA Rugby, Mark Alexander, addressed the media this week and implied some big changes were coming.
“We had a meeting two months ago, and we’ve had this (global calendar) discussion for the last 14 years,” Alexander said.
“Every time, the same things get put on the table. The problem is, if you go with a blank sheet of paper, and everyone agrees that something must give, and everyone gives something… from there, you can find a common calendar for club rugby and international rugby.
“But that’s not happening. That’s why we now have to take a look at it. We can’t wait for the higher-ups to make that decision because there are too many variables.
“We as an organisation have to decide which (tournaments) we are going to play in and how we are going to create an opportunity for our players to enjoy some downtime.
“The players are our most important asset, but we’re burning them out.”
Other news to note
SA Rugby spent a quarter of its total income directly on the Springboks, Springbok Women, Springboks Sevens, Junior Boks and other national teams in 2025, according to the Annual Financial Statements, which were presented to member unions at Thursday’s Annual General Meeting in Cape Town.
SA Rugby’s group revenues increased by 29% from R1.5bn in 2024 to R2bn in 2025 with R500m spent directly on the Springboks (R281m) and the High-Performance Department (R221m) into which all other national teams fall.
Oberholzer said: “With new competitions in the offing, our conversion to shareholder status of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and a digital transformation strategy to optimise fan engagement and present new commercial opportunities, we know we are firmly on the right track.
“We have reset the business across event delivery, digitization, commercialization, high performance and participation and development over the last two years to build a business platform into the medium and long term.
“Financial sustainability remains an on-going challenge and focus for the global as well as the South African rugby ecosystem, but we believe we are building strong foundations to meet those challenges.”
