The Investec Champions Cup celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, with the first edition, then known as the Heineken Cup, taking place in 1995, the same year that the Springboks first won the Rugby World Cup.
Of course, back then, despite South Africa’s recent reintroduction to world sport, no local teams participated in the tournament. This only happened more than 20 years later when it became time for change.
Having aligned with Northern Hemisphere rugby after nearly three decades playing against teams from New Zealand and Australia in Super Rugby between 1993 and 2020, the Hollywoodbets Sharks, Vodacom Bulls, DHL Stormers and Emirates Lions joined the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in 2021, with the South African teams having delivered huge value to the competition, including spectator numbers and participation.
Success in the VURC for the South African teams hasn’t quite translated into glory in the Investec Champions Cup, but a huge amount of learnings, particularly around travel and squad depth, have no doubt given the local franchises pause for thought. Given the player salary caps that dwarf those of the allowances granted to the SA squads, the French and Irish teams have managed to lure top talent from around the world in their pursuit – and achievement – of success.
The French teams lead the tournament as winners (and runners’ up), with 13 champions and a further 16 losing finalists, with England coming in a distant second (10 winners and six runners’ up), followed by Ireland (seven and seven respectively) and then Wales with one losing finalist, Cardiff in the inaugural 1995/96 season. They lost to Toulouse, the most successful team in the history of the tournament with eight final appearances and six titles, edging Irish giants Leinster who also boast eight finals, but only four championships. Leinster lost three finals in a row between the 2022 and 2024 seasons, all of them against French sides, including Toulouse and La Rochelle who boast two titles.
The last English team to win were Exeter Chiefs, winning the only Champions Cup final they’ve aver appeared in (2020), while Saracens are the toast of England, boasting the third best record in the tournament overall, with three titles and one runners’ up medal.
Crowd numbers have changed over the years, with the very first final, between Toulouse and Cardiff, attracting 21800 spectators at the National Stadium in Cardiff. That wasn’t the lowest figure though, not because of disinterest, but the Covid pandemic during the 2020/21 season, where only 10 000 lucky fans were granted entry into Twickenham to witness Toulouse defeating La Rochelle 22-17.
While spectator numbers have frequently reached 50, 60 and even 70 000 in finals, the record is 82,208 fans attending the Irish derby semi-final between Leinster and Munster at Croke Park in Dublin.
As far as individual player accolades go, it’s no surprise, given the Irish successes, that an Irishman leads the point-scoring record. Munster’s Ronan O’Gara leads with 1365 points scored, nearly 500 points ahead of second-placed Owen Farrell (Saracens), with Stephen Jones (Wales) and Johnny Sexton (Ireland) bringing up fourth and fifth place.
With 110 appearances in the tournament, Ronan O’Gara is second to Leinster’s Cian Healy, with a further three Irishmen making up the top five, Gordon D’Arcy (Leinster) and John Hayes and Peter Stringer (both with 101 appearances).
Although the Hollywoodbets Sharks can claim him as one of their own, French international Frédéric Michalak lays claim to the most successful player of all time, with six titles won for Toulouse and Toulon (three apiece) between 2003 and 2015 in a glittering rugby career.
Crowd numbers reaching record proportions in the last three years – does this have something to do with the introduction of the South African teams? Prior to the Covid pandemic, crowd numbers averaged around 14 000 to 15 000 per game, up from the 8 000 to 12 000 of the earlier years. In the 2022/23 season, match attendances had risen to 16 324, reaching a record high of 18 419 the following season and dropping marginally to an average of 18 136 per match in the 2024/25 season.
There is no doubt that the Investec Champions Cup is a winning product amongst the fans.
