South African teams will compete in European rugby competitions from next season

The announcement followed initial agreement last summer between organisers EPCR and the United Rugby Championship

Siya Kolisi of Cell C Sharks arrives before the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Cell C Sharks at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

European club rugby chiefs have confirmed that South African teams will compete in both the Heineken Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup from the 2022-23 season.

The announcement followed an initial agreement last summer between organisers EPCR and the United Rugby Championship, which began this season as a 16-team league with the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers as member clubs, that South African teams would be allowed to qualify for European competition.

In a press release issued on Thursday morning EPCR announced “a landmark expansion of its tournaments” and confirming that “the five leading clubs from South Africa” would compete from next season. That means the Stormers, Bulls, Sharks and Lions, having qualified from the URC this season will play in the Champions Cup, adding “a new layer of high-quality competition to the established order of Europe’s elite clubs”, EPCR said, with former PRO14 participants the Cheetahs invited to compete in the 2022-23 Challenge Cup The URC’s format for qualification via region-based shields ensures Irish and Welsh participation in the elite competition with Scotland’s two teams pooled with the two Italian franchises in a third shield. Leinster, Edinburgh, Ospreys and the Stormers were the winner the winners of their respective URC Shields with Ulster, Munster, the Buls and the Sharks also qualifying for the Champions Cup as the next best-placed four teams.

EPCR Chairman Dominic McKay said the development was: “A crucial step forward in bringing to life our vision of growing the game and our own tournaments, continuing to deliver strong returns for our leagues and creating an ever-higher standard of mouthwatering matches for our fans.” EPCR said the formats for next season’s Champions Cup and Challenge Cup will be announced shortly, in conjunction with details of the Pool Draws for both tournaments which will be staged towards the end of this month.

SARU Chief Executive Jurie Roux welcomed the opportunity to break new ground for his country’s quintet of representatives with fixtures against English and French clubs now in the offing in addition to URC rivals.

“Our five franchise teams will now play in two new territories against opponents we’ve never played before,” Roux said. “We’ve already experienced the intensity of the URC, and now we’ll also face the top clubs from England and France. We would like to thank all stakeholders who have been involved in the negotiation process – the Board and staff of EPCR, the URC, Premiership Rugby and the Ligue Nationale de Rugby.

“A big word of thanks also to the Cheetahs for their patience. I’m sure they can’t wait to face international opposition again, and we’re very grateful to have them included in the EPCR Challenge Cup.

“Ever since we’ve made the decision to align with the northern hemisphere, our aim was to play in the EPCR competitions. As we’ve seen during the inaugural season of the URC, the rugby is of the highest standard and our top players definitely benefited from this move.

“We now have an opportunity to also start rubbing shoulders with the top clubs from England and France in two other competitions that have caught the imagination of rugby supporters around the globe for more than two decades.” The 2023 Finals weekend is scheduled for Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on May 19 and 20 next year.