Stormers, Sharks and Bulls ready to rumble

• SA’s teams will be having their first taste of Champions Cup knockout rugby this weekend

Having reached base camp for the first time, SA’s teams can this weekend begin their assault on Europe’s highest peak with the start of the knockout rounds of the Champions Cup

There is still talk about whether Mount Elbrus is really in Europe, but that should not temper the sense of belonging of the Stormers, Bulls and Sharks as they embark on their conquest. They will have their first taste of Champions Cup knockout rugby on going into combat in the round of 16 this weekend.

The Stormers, given recent history, form and the nature of the draw, are perhaps best suited to go deep in the competition. They play the Harlequins in Cape Town on Saturday and will have reason to go into the fixture confident of another positive home result. The Bulls and Sharks, in the other half of the draw, have reason to be less sanguine.

Champions Cup aristocrats Toulouse and Leinster are in their half of the draw. Record five-time winners Toulouse host the Bulls at their Stade Ernst Wallon base on Sunday and the portents aren’t great for the visitors. Recent results suggest the Bulls are in a downward spiral. Toulouse look likely to field something like their best squad for the occasion. Last season, Toulouse shot themselves in the foot by not selecting their best team in the pool stages. The resultant defeat ended their chances of a home semifinal. It meant an end of the road trip to

Dublin in the Champions Cup semifinals against Leinster.

But Jake White’s team aren’t total no-hopers. They achieved what Toulouse couldn’t last year, inflicting defeat on Leinster in front of their fans, albeit in the United Rugby Championship.

White has the benefit of a full week’s preparation in Europe after his trip to Belfast last week to play Ulster. He must neutralise Toulouse’s monster pack and their live-wire scrumhalf Antoine Dupont. But those are only the superficial challenges.

Victory over France’s most decorated side will be ointment on wounds inflicted by recent defeats but no panacea for underlying issues that hit the Bulls this season. A win though will certainly put a spring in their step. If the Bulls pull off an upset, they may meet the Sharks in the quarterfinals, a carrot for White and his team. Not that the Sharks are guaranteed a spot in the quarters. They meet Munster in Durban on Saturday, and though they have home comforts their passage to the next round is not assured given their recent form. Their fans may draw comfort from the Sharks being almost certainly better than they were against the Scarlets last weekend. The same applies to Munster, handed a chastening home defeat by Glasgow Warriors. Munster head coach Graham Rowntree expects “an honest” response from his players in Durban. “What a memory this will be if we get it right on the weekend,” said Rowntree.

The second-row match-up between Eben Etzebeth and RG Snyman, fit again, is eagerly awaited and may be an abiding feature of the match. On the other side of the draw, URC champs the Stormers clash with Harlequins with a lingering depth deficiency in the second row. They will be without lock Ruben van Heerden, who is cup tied having played for Exeter Chiefs earlier this season. But the Stormers have somehow managed to successfully plug the gaps this season.

If much of the pre-clash talk in Durban is around thunderous collisions by opposing second rowers, the match in Cape Town is of first receivers hoping to avoid each other. In Manie Libbok and Marcus Smith, the Stormers and Harlequins have playmakers who seek space and time. An off-day for either could be catastrophic for their teams.

Should the Stormers overcome this hurdle they can look forward to another home clash against Exeter Chiefs or Montpellier in the quarterfinals.

Three-time champions Saracens and defending champions La Rochelle lurk in that half of the draw. They look on course to meet in the quarterfinals so the Stormers need only concern themselves with one of the two if they reach the semis.