Posted by For a Welsh side the challenge of heading down to South Africa in the United Rugby Championship is an enormous one. Huge, physical opponents in extremely tough playing conditions with our often relatively thin squads thanks to injuries and budget restrictions. It’s a recipe for disaster.
There’s no ideal time to make the trip to the Southern Hemisphere. The first fixture block of the season would be the best of a bad bunch, when the South Africans are without their Springboks due to The Rugby Championship and Welsh sides player availability should be most optimal, but going in the two weeks directly after the Six Nations is a bit of a nightmare.
And so it was directly after the Six Nations that Cardiff jumped on the long flight down south this season, with Alex Mann and Josh Adams left at home, the travelling squad having not played for three weeks and the opponents in the form of the Bulls and Sharks having both played derbies while the Northern Hemisphere’s test level tournament came to a conclusion.
First stop was Pretoria and the unique challenge presented by Loftus Versfeld at 1350m above sea level. The Blue & Blacks have tried flying in late and trying to negate the altitude that way, and on this occasion went straight up there and took a few days to acclimatise, but either way the impact on the lungs and legs have been noticeable.
However, while it’s absolutely true that the conditions are tough, the players and coaches will still have been disappointed with the level of performance. Just 7 points scored, 13 turnovers given up, 27 tackles missed for an 83% completion rate, and a slightly shaky set piece added up to a tough 40-7 scoreline in a game the Blue & Blacks were never really in.
Better teams than Cardiff will go to Loftus, up against an impressive Bulls outfit, and struggle to get a result, but Corniel Van Zyl’s side have prided themselves on their fight, resilience and competitiveness this season, which seemed to go away at times particularly in the second quarter of the game.
However, this South Africa trip was a tale of two halves in that respect, as after a short hop across to Durban and a few days off back at sea level on the eastern coast a refreshed Blue & Blacks side took the field against the Sharks with little or no expectation.
The hosts are regular underachievers in terms of the league yet retain a squad packed with Springboks. Ox Nche, Vincent Koch, Jason Jenkins, Vincent Tshituka, Phepsi Buthelezi, Jordan Hendrikse, Andre Esterhuizen, Ethan Hooker and Makazole Mapimpi were all in the matchday 23 against a banged up and hurting opposition.
When they scored inside the first seven minutes of the game there was certainly a sense of fearing the worst, but huge credit to Van Zyl’s men who steadied themselves, righted a number of wrongs from the previous week, and hit back to briefly lead 7-12 before staying in touch through to a half-time deficit of 21-12.
A vastly improved defensive performance, that still shipped too many missed tackles at another 83% tackle completion rate, worked hard to restrict Sharks to just five line breaks, won eight turnovers and conceded just eight penalties as the scramble defence and discipline kept the hosts off the scoreboard for the entirety of the second half.
Ioan Lloyd’s late penalty won’t make a season highlight reel or win any awards, but when looking back on the 2025/26 campaign it may well end up as vitally important in securing a point from the trip to the southern hemisphere and ensuring that the performance against the Bulls was very much a one-off for the team.
A disastrous end of season run-in averted, a point closer to that magic 50-point mark that should secure a top eight play-off finish, and the South Africa tour out of the way for another year. It’s not a success as such, but it’s not a catastrophe either, and I think that’s about as much as could be asked from this annual two-game stretch.
Now attention turns towards the European Challenge Cup round of 16 fixture away at Benetton next week, and how Cardiff may approach a game in a competition that means a lot to the club, and with an ultimate prize of a final back in Bilbao – a city which means so much as well.
The issue for Van Zyl is that this last two games has taken a lot out of the squad even beyond the physicality of back-to-back games against South African opposition and the travelling to the other side of the world. George Nott, Josh McNally, Taulupe Faletau, Aled Davies and Johan Mulder have all picked up knocks of differing severity and will miss the trip to Italy.
So despite the emotional tie to the competition, the sensible thing would be to rest a number of the fit senior players for this game in order to prioritise rest and recovery ahead of a huge few weeks of URC action, starting with a Welsh double header against Scarlets and Ospreys, respectively.
It’s not an easy thing to do, and undoubtedly the messaging from the club will be that they set out to win every game and this one is no different, but deep down players and coaches will know that not progressing to the quarter-final – where a visit to Exeter or Munster awaits – is actually the most beneficial thing for the club.
Maybe one day we can get back to the point where budgets allow the Blue & Blacks to properly compete on two fronts, but until then tough decisions need to be made, and on this occasion it’s the league that should be taking priority.
Cardiff Rugby Life 