Leo Cullen says South African teams have the luxury of “recharging their batteries” while the Europeans battle in two competitions simultaneously.
Cullen was speaking after a second-string Leinster lost 28-23 to the Sharks at Kings Park on Saturday night – eight days after knocking Irish rivals Connacht out of the Champions Cup.
Leinster have taken flak for sending a ‘B’ side to SA, and Cullen’s men will next face the Stormers on Saturday, the Capetonians now second in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship behind the Irish after Friday’s win over Glasgow Warriors.
In 2022-23, SA teams will compete for the first time in the Champions and Challenge Cups, which runs concurrently with the URC.
Watch: Why Sharks must punish second-rate Leinster
Following Saturday’s defeat in Durban, Cullen told Leinster Rugby TV: “There’s plenty going in the head-to-head [clashes], and I’m glad we’re a little further up the table in terms of that buffer we have.
“You can just see how closely the teams are, and you can see the South African teams are totally stacked at the moment.
“They don’t have the distraction of European competition either, and have weekends when they can recharge their batteries and put fuel in the tank, so to speak, and that’s an advantage.
“Next year, the South African teams will be in Europe [too], so they’ll have to deal with the dual focus, or ‘war on two fronts’, and that’s the beauty of competition.”
