CAN YOU GUESS WHO? One South African team doesn’t have the luxury of reintegrating their World Cup winners into the URC fold this coming week, as the majority of clubs are getting ready to do so. That team didn’t produce any Springboks this season.

Discover which local team had no such luck when the Springboks resume play for the remainder of the URC campaign with their respective franchises.

The Bulls, Lions, Sharks, and Stormers are the four South African teams that play in the United Rugby Championship. Furthermore, none of them have done well enough this season to be regarded as title candidates.

The Sharks are languishing at the bottom of the 16-team table, with the Lions coming in at No 13. Occupying ninth spot, the Stormers are in a slightly better position; while the Bulls are the best-ranked local team in seventh place after five rounds of action.

WORLD CUP WINNERS TO THE RESCUE?

But with their Springbok contingents back, that might all alter for three of these sides.

Canan Moodie, Marco van Staden, Kurt-Lee Arendse, and recent addition Willie le Roux have all reported for duty at Loftus this week, according to the Bulls.

This past weekend, the Sharks added Lukhanyo Am to their starting lineup quickly. They will also be counting on Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche, Grant Williams, and Jaden Hendrikse—all former Test players—to bolster their ranks in the near future. Towards the end of the season, the Sharks may be able to use Makazole Mapimpi, Bongi Mbonambi, and Vincent Koch, three additional injured Boks.

Over at the Stormers, Frans Malherbe, Deon Fourie, Damian Willemse and Manie Libbok will all be up for selection when the Stormers return home from their four-match tour of Europe later this month.

NO SPRINGBOKS TO RESCUE LIONS

And then there’s the Lions, the only franchise that did not contribute to the the Springboks’ squad make-up this season.

As it turned out, that was no skin off the Springboks’ backs. But the fact that all the other local teams can call of their returning World Cup winners to potentially help them turn a corner, it must sting a bit for the Lions to know that not only are there no such luxuries available to them, but that they could fall even further down the pecking the order in terms of player-depth and subsequently the quality of on-field performance.