Cardiff strive for more with Bok four looming

CARDIFF chairman Alun Jones has told his team and Welsh rugby as a whole they will have to raise their game if they are to stand a chance against their new South African competition.

The upcoming 2021/22 season will mark the beginning of the United Rugby Championship which comprises crossborder participation between the northern and southern hemisphere.

South African sides Stormers, Sharks, Lions and Bulls are set to add significant competition.

Jones said: “We have to embrace the South African teams rivalling us and strive to improve all the time. Munster were the team, now it’s Leinster we all aspire to be.

“Who knows? It could be the Bulls or Sharks we aspire to be like next. Without those standards we’re not going to get to where we want to be. We’re in competitions to try and win them and to do that we have to raise our standards.”

In years to come, the four South African provinces are poised to qualify from the URC for the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup.

They will be not be able to do so from the upcoming campaign, but it is a reality in the future that there is no guarantee all Welsh sides will be competing in European rugby.

A lack of such competition would hit the regional finances hard as European games tend to attract the biggest crowds.

Jones adds: “You’d have to say that from where we are now, there is a concern with that. I think the Welsh Rugby Union has managed to negotiate an excellent deal for the regions. We’ve effectively got a couple of years to get ourselves in line. The challenge is all ours.

“At some point we have to be responsible for our own future. It’s up to us to drive standards and get into Europe. We can’t blame anyone else if we don’t qualify. We’ve got a nice run-in time to try and do that and, ultimately, elite competition has to be about the best teams. That’s where we aspire to be and want to be.”