Is this the start of the Republic's revival?

INTERVIEW: South African teams have not exactly covered themselves in glory in the opening half of the United Rugby Championship season.

However, Munster coach Johan van Graan believes they will have a massive say in the way the table shapes up over the coming weeks and could even move into play-off contention.

While all four SA sides head north for games against URC opposition this weekend, upon their return they will host a number of games against overseas teams.

That is when they are expected to start their march up the table, as they finally get some cross-continental action that was denied them in December because of the outbreak of the Omicron variant.

Some of the fixtures are rescheduled fixtures from the two weeks in December, while others are regularly scheduled games.

It gives the South African teams a decent run of home games to look forward to and if, as expected, they do well, their positions in the standings are bound to rise and give the play-off race some extra spice.

The opening tours weren't a success for the South African teams, but there is a sense now - knowing what they are to face in Europe - that the teams are better prepared.

There is a sense of excited anticipation among local players and coaches.

The feeling is that playing in South African conditions is an opportunity to rack up a string of victories.

One coach who sees this happening is South African-born Van Graan, who told Irish media this week that the log will be determined by what teams do in South Africa and that the local teams will very much have a say in the outcomes of the first URC season.

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"Everyone has still to go down there and it is going to be a massive challenge for the teams from the Northern Hemisphere to learn what it takes to play at Loftus Versfeld, Ellis Park, Cape Town Stadium and [at Kings Park] in Durban," Van Graan said.

"That is a massive challenge."

First though, the South African sides need to negotiate the one-off games against foreign opposition.

Leinster host the Lions and the Bulls are facing Zebre in Parma on Friday.

The Sharks will take on Benetton and the Stormers are up against Connacht on Saturday.

While they are widely expected to be favourites at the RDS Arena, where last Saturday they easily dispatched Ospreys, Leinster coach Leo Cullen is preparing for an abrasive assault by the Lions forwards.

"It was important to get a bonus point over the Ospreys in this sequence of matches," Cullen said after his side's win over the Welsh side.

"The Lions are very big and physical and abrasive around the contact area.

"We have done our homework on them so we know there are plenty of threats.

"Leinster must make sure we recover well after the Ospreys game even though it is a short turnaround. We must put in a good week's training."

Either way, the end of the derbies and the arrival of cross-border games will be welcomed all round.

And in the end, the play-offs will be determined by games in the Republic, and the four South African teams' response to the arrival of the invasion on their home turf.

Source: @URCOfficial