The Investec Champions Cup features many dreamers, but it rewards only the greatest of survivors, writes MARK KEOHANE.
France’s best from the Top 14, the leading sides from the URC and England’s elite from the Premiership make up the Investec Champions Cup.
For 30 years, Europe’s finest have fought for the most prized gold medal in club rugby.
Nothing compares with the challenge of the Champions Cup, with players and coaches having to balance their premier domestic league ambitions with a tournament in which every pool match is the equal of a playoffs eliminator.
Now into its 31st season, the Champions Cup is the toughest club tournament in the game.
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Last season’s beaten Vodacom URC finalists the Bulls, in-form URC log-leaders the Stormers and the star-studded, Springbok-infused Sharks lead the South African charge, which last season faded before the playoffs.
There is expectation that this season, South Africa’s first as a fully-fledged member of the EPCR, the South Africans will come to the playoffs party.
No one is applauding participation anymore. South African supporters, so used to success in every competition, demand something tangible in the Champions Cup.
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Many South African players have won the Champions Cup for European teams. Springbok icons Bryan Habana and Bakkies Botha were voted as the best in their respective positions to ever play in the tournament in its first 30 years. The fans made that call, such was the impact of Habana and Botha at French club Toulon.
Now for a South African team win.
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The 2025-26 draw hasn’t offered a single favour.
The Stormers start away to Bayonne on 5 December. It is a trip that looks simple on paper but never is when you’ve got 14,000 Basque locals packed into the Stade Jean-Dauger. A week later they host two-time champions La Rochelle in Gqeberha. That’s the kind of test that defines a campaign early.
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The Sharks have a baptism by fire. They travel to six-time winners Toulouse – the tournament’s most successful side and one that could field a Test XV from its reserves.
Then back home to face Saracens, the English powerhouse who’ve lifted this cup three times. Some would say it is more a gauntlet than a start.
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The Bulls have drawn the toughest opening weekend. Get through this and they could be off to the final in Spain in May. First up, on 6 December, they host defending champions Bordeaux Bègles at Loftus – a French side that plays with a Test-match tempo, coached by Yannick Bru and fuelled by French international firepower. Then, a week later, they travel to Franklin’s Gardens to take on the Northampton Saints, last season’s runners-up and one of the slickest attacking teams in club rugby.
It’s a brutal schedule but it is the kind of itinerary that defines champions.
This is the competition that humbles reputations. Four-time winners Leinster haven’t lifted it since 2018. La Rochelle, for all their recent dominance, found out last season that it takes only one off-day to fall. Toulouse, even with Antoine Dupont at his peak, know that no lead is ever safe in this tournament.
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It’s why it’s the benchmark. It’s why South African sides wanted in. And now that they are, they must learn to master it.
The logistics alone make the task staggering: 12-hour flights, sub-zero temperatures and French referees who see the ruck through a very different lens. Throw in the travel fatigue, December fixture congestion and playing in –2°C and 30°C-plus, and every away point is gold dust and every home point is expected to be a banker.
But if there’s ever been a season where belief feels justified, it’s this one.
The Bulls have depth across the park and a coach in Johan Ackermann who understands how to win in hostile places.
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The Stormers look settled, physically and mentally. And they have John Dobson.
The Sharks, bolstered by Bok pedigree, know they can match any pack man for man.
South African teams have won everywhere else. They’ve conquered Super Rugby. They’ve dominated the URC. They’ve ruled the Test arena. Yet Europe’s royal rugby crown still sits just out of reach – it is the one title that has eluded them, despite the lateness of their invite to the party.
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Will this be the year a South African side finally breaks through?
The fixtures say no, but the belief and pedigree say maybe.
And in the Champions Cup, ‘maybe’ is all you need to start something spectacular and history-making.
The Investec @ChampionsCup is back this week! pic.twitter.com/5SEuSn1Uh3
— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) December 1, 2025
Investec Champions Cup fixtures (Round 1, SA times)
Friday, 5 December
Bayonne vs Stormers, 10pm
Sale Sharks vs Glasgow Warriors, 10pm
Saturday, 6 December
Saracens vs Clermont, 3pm
Bulls vs Bordeaux Begles, 5:15pm
La Rochelle vs Leicester Tigers, 7:30pm
Leinster vs Harlequins, 7:30pm
Scarlets vs Bristol Bears, 10pm
Bath vs Munster, 10pm
Sunday, 7 December
Pau vs Northampton Saints, 3pm
Toulouse vs Sharks, 5:15pm
Gloucester vs Castres, 5:15pm
Edinburgh vs Toulon, 7:30pm
EPCR Challenge Cup fixtures (Round 1, SA times)
Friday, 5 December
Ulster vs Racing 92, 10pm
Saturday, 6 December
Lions vs Benetton, 3pm
Stade Francais vs Cardiff, 3pm
Black Lion vs Montpellier, 5:15pm
Lyon vs Newcastle Red Bulls, 7:30pm
Zebre Parma vs Montauban, 10pm
Sunday, 7 December
Perpignan vs Dragons, 3pm
Ospreys vs Connacht, 5:15pm
Exeter Chiefs vs Cheetahs, 7:30pm
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
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