Fight on two fronts taxing

South African teams are back in European Cup action this weekend, with all five teams battling it out in the last-16 of their respective competitions.

The Bulls and Stormers are hosting Champions Cup clashes in Pretoria and Cape Town.

In the Challenge Cup, the Sharks are at home in Durban and the Lions and Cheetahs are in action in Italy and France.

All five teams will obviously be eager to progress to the next round, but the question is will any of them be seriously disappointed if they were knocked out?

Battling it out on two fronts is incredibly difficult, especially if you have hopes of winning one of the competitions, and with the United Rugby Championship (URC) hitting the business end as well, it is only going to get tougher for teams.

South African sides also don’t have the same squad depth as most of their European counterparts, who have built up their squads to compete on two fronts over the years. It will still take a few years for them to get to that same level.

It thus comes down to which competition each team values more and it seems that the Bulls, Stormers and Lions will have their eyes set on the URC, while the Sharks and Cheetahs will be fully invested in the Challenge Cup.

It is obvious that the Sharks and Cheetahs will go all-in this weekend as the Sharks are basically out of the running for a top-eight spot in the URC.

Winning the Challenge Cup will get them into the Champions Cup, while this is the Cheetahs only major international tournament.

For the Bulls and Stormers it will be a bit tricky as they would both more than likely want to challenge on both fronts, but will know how tough that will be, especially if they make the semifinals. As from that stage they will have to play away in Europe.

So although both want to progress, they probably wouldn’t be heartbroken if they didn’t, so they can focus on securing a place in the URC top four.

The Lions main focus is on securing a place in the URC top eight and making the playoffs for the first time.