Courtnall Skosan has welcomed the inclusion of South African teams into the Champions Cup, but believes his Northampton Saints side will go all the way this season.

This weekend will see the South African teams make their competition debuts in the prestigious Champions and Challenge Cup in a historic weekend for club rugby.

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The Vodacom Bulls, DHL Stormers and Sharks will play in the Champions Cup, while the Lions and Parma-based Cheetahs will take part in the second-tier Challenge Cup.

Former Lions wing Skosan feels the inclusion of the clubs from the Republic can only be a good thing for the two competitions.

“I think that it’s really quite exciting,” he told the Champions Cup website. “We were looking forward to getting one or two of them, as some of the boys haven’t travelled to South Africa and I think it’s a great experience. It creates a different element to the competition.”

Now in his second season with Northampton Saints, Skosan backed the Premiership side to come out on top.

“I think for us it’s all about cleaning up our game, just not making a lot of mistakes,” said the 31-year-old. “We have the game that can take us all the way. It’s just about making sure that it’s clean and I think that’s a big focus for us.

“The quality of players, of teams, of games – that’s the big thing. You’re basically playing international teams every weekend, which is why I say if you clean up your game, it will probably be better because it’s almost like you’re playing a Test.

“We want to do well, get a few wins at the beginning and go from there.”

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