Western Province Rugby’s move to Cape Town Stadium has been een helse flop to date.
Now before you say I’m just sour because I never wanted the union to leave Newlands behind, consider that of the nine matches the Capetonians have played at this venue since moving from Newlands they’ve only won three.
Losing six of those matches gives them a winning percentage of 33, while conceding 31 points on average and scoring 25 in return.
It all started back in March last year when they beat the Lions 44-12 in that preparation match at the new stadium.
Turned out to be a false dawn, though, as they lost their first competitive match at the new stadium to the Sharks on May 1 - going down 30-33, before tasting defeat to the Bulls the following week in the Rainbow Cup 16-20.
As Western Province, the Capetonians narrowly got the better of the Sharks on June 30 in the Currie Cup (32-31), before losing to Griquas 28-30.
The British and Irish Lions then came to town and whipped coach John Dobson’s boys 3-49, before the Bulls smashed WP 13-34 in the Currie Cup.
This year, the Capetonians’ record reads: played two, won one and lost one - they lost 19-37 to the Lions in the United Rugby Championship, while WP beat the Lions 48-36 in the Currie Cup.
It hasn’t been a long history, in fact die ding kom maar van nou die dag af and with the stadium being so big, it’s understandable that the players will feel lonely with crowds not being back at stadiums yet.
You also hear that players are struggling to scrum on the slippery surface and for the hosts, that’s one of their biggest strengths being nullified.
Maar kyk hier, the other team also plays on that surface, meaning you have to adapt sooner rather than later.
It is what it is, you manne are staying at Cape Town Stadium and the sooner you accept that and make it home, the better.
If the Stormers want to do well in the URC, they have to start winning matches at home. And that starts with the Sharks on Saturday.
But even if they ruk themselves reg at home, do the Stormers even have what it takes to go all the way in the tournament?
I hear people talking about which South African franchise our country’s rugby fans should support in the United Rugby Championship.
In other words, who will have the best chance of winning the tournament?
Look at the 16-team log, our best team the Sharks are currently in 10th, the Stormers in 12th, Bulls in 13th and the Lions in 14th.
Up the ladder, you have a Scottish top two - Edinburgh and Glasgow. They are followed by Irish trio Ulster, Leinster and Munster, before you get Wales’ Ospreys and Italy’s Benetton.
And people are wondering which of the South African teams have the best chance of winning the tournament.
As a country currently in possession of the William Web Ellis trophy, I’d like to think that we should be backing all our teams for a top six finish.
It’s not like they are playing the cream of the crop in European rugby.
Yes, we have played fewer games and have not yet hosted any of the matches against overseas teams, but surely we can’t place all our eggs in one basket.
If the question is, who looks the strongest of the SA teams after the first two rounds, then you have a different question - one that I feel is semi-answerable after the two rounds we just witnessed in 2022.
On paper, you’d back the Sharks. The dads out there will say rugby gets played on grass not paper. And they’re right.
What is worrying about the Sharks team is that they seem to lack discipline, despite having the national team skipper Siya Kolisi and captain Lukhanyo Am in their squad.
They were ill-disciplined in the way they conceded penalties and penalty tries in the draw against the Stormers last weekend, but not only that - they were ill-disciplined mentally as well.
When you are 19-3 up, you keep focused and you don’t allow the opponents to suck you into losing your cool. They’ve got the experience in the squad, but it’s their mentality that I’m worried about most.
Luckily this is something that can be improved with time and the more the team plays together.
The Bulls will always be there and thereabout, and they will push hard again. One thing they must guard against is a drop in confidence. I get a feeling that they are riding the wave of success in Pretoria and if it crashes - like it did in the Rainbow Cup final against Benetton last year and against the Stormers at Loftus two weeks ago, even Jake White will struggle to get back the winning mentality of this promising Bulls squad.
The Lions, though, will be SA’s bottom team.
As for the Stormers, they have to beat the Sharks at home on Saturday to start trapping diep spore at Cape Town Stadium.
The Sharks, meanwhile, will be out to prove they are mentally tough to handle setbacks and have what it takes to bounce back.
Still, all the SA teams have some issues to iron out before we can start thinking about challenging the overseas manne.