for Clément Poitrenaud, the superiority of South African clubs is not so obvious
Zapping World Fifteen Shield of Brennus, XV of the Rose, World Cup 2023…
The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup resume this week but these competitions only concern European clubs. The South African Franchises are coming, and many believe that these clubs will upset the hierarchy and march on all their opponents from the Old Continent.
This is a vision that Clément Poitrenaud does not share. The assistant coach of Stade Toulousain, who has also done a freelance in South Africa in his career as a player, explains to Rugbyrama that according to him, nothing is decided in advance, and that like the domination of the nations of the North on the international scene (Ireland and France occupy the first two positions of the World Rugby ranking), European clubs are quite capable of competing.
I won’t pride myself on giving a particular favourite. I think that the European teams have to assert a certain number of things (…) It is difficult to compare the French and English teams with the harshness of their national championship, in which you have to fight every weekend. ends, with the Irish and South Africans who have almost only this European Cup. But I think it will be very open, that each of the teams will have the possibility of reaching the final stages. Anything can happen.
(…) Very sincerely on pure conquest or scrum, our French championship prepares us well for this kind of confrontation. In terms of rugby, we see it with the France team today, there will necessarily be things to do. I’m not really worried about the ability of French or European clubs to compete with South African franchises as long as everyone puts 100% of their strength into it.
The Toulouse coach also issued a specific opinion on this “new look” European Cup, and his opinion is even more clear-cut than That of Antoine Dupont, who was already very perplexed by this new format. For Clément Poitrenaud, the European Cup “ended the last season with the title of La Rochelle”. This development could, however, be a foretaste of this Club World Cup, which has already been mentioned in the past.
to summarize
If for many, the arrival of South African clubs in the European cups risks distorting the situation and seeing these clubs work on everyone, Clément Poitrenaud does not share this opinion and thinks that the European fans have their word to say.