SA Investec Champions Cup Team of the Week – Round 3

A Springbok-laden Bulls side suffered an embarrassing 61-49 loss to the Bristol Bears at Loftus Versfeld, a second-string Sharks side went down 26-10 to their English namesakes, the Sale Sharks, in Manchester and a mix-and-match Stormers outfit were hammered 61-10 by Harlequins at Twickenham Stoop.

Our South African Team of the Week is split in three with the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers each having five representatives.

15: Hakeem Kunene (Sharks)

Frankly, most of the backline selections were extremely tough given the dreck across the board. When screwing up the least is the reason why a player got the nod, you know it was a weekend to wipe from your memory. 

14: Sebastian de Klerk (Bulls)

He did cost the Bulls a try with a missed tackle, but he made up for it by scoring one and topped the stats in terms of carries (15), metres (106) and defenders beaten (12).

13: Jurenzo Julius (Sharks)

Made his presence felt with a thunderous hit on George Ford early on. So quick off the mark, showed good tackle fight and made some slick offloads. Played at inside centre but he and the next man were the midfielders most deserving of selection.

12: Damian Willemse (Stormers)

Was it vintage Willemse? Far from it, but you have to respect the Springbok superstar’s commitment to his club for captaining what proved to be a collection of no-hopers and giving it his all. Came back from an HIA and assisted one of his team’s two tries.

11: Luke Burger (Stormers)

He didn’t have any highlight-reel moments, but he also didn’t make shocking defensive errors like his competitors and dominated in the air, including retaining two box kicks.

10: Siya Masuku (Sharks)

With Handre Pollard arguably having the worst game of his career and Jurie Matthee giving up a couple of tries with some shameful defensive ‘efforts’, Masuku makes the cut despite being underwhelming himself.

9: Imad Khan (Stormers)

With veteran Dewaldt Duvenage operating at a glacial pace, Khan was more than a breath of fresh air, he was a defibrillator who shocked the Stormers backline back to life and broke the Capetonians’ duck with a well-taken try.

8: Jeandre Rudolph (Bulls)

One of just two players in the Bulls’ starting line-up who didn’t get stink on them. Scored his team’s opening try and put Stravino Jacobs in for another with fast hands. The United Rugby Championship’s current turnover king produced a jackal just before halftime and was incredibly committed on defence.

It's a try-fest at Loftus 🤩🍿

The Vodacom Bulls score in the corner to make it 14-28 🏉🔢

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— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) January 10, 2026

7: Manu Tshituka (Sharks) – Player of the Week

An outstanding outing by the Springbok hopeful. A complete colossus, he scored a solo stunner, made a try-saving turnover and an excellent cover tackle on a fresh Gurshwin Wehr in the 78th minute.

6: Tino Mavesere (Sharks)

An exhibition of what an explosive athlete the Zimbabwe international is. A beastly ball carrier, he beat a match-high eight defenders, including handing off Ford on a barnstorming break. Strong on defence, too, and grabbed a turnover.

5: Ruan Nortje (Bulls)

The other Bulls’ starter who didn’t embarrass himself. The captain of the Herd was a hard worker who ran good lines, made a nice break that led to Le Roux’s try, put a handy kick through, tackled his heart out and delivered in the lineout. 

4: Ruan Vermaak (Bulls)

One of the Bulls’ super-subs, he brought much-needed energy and mongrel to the Pretoria side. Super industrious on top of shoring up the set pieces.

3: Zachary Porthen (Stormers)

The young Springbok tighthead set the tone with a massive shove first up to win a scrum penalty and produced two more. He also made a couple of dominant tackles to edge out Vincent Koch.

2: Lukhanyo Vokozela (Stormers)

Described as “an angry little man” by John Dobson in the build-up, the 23-year-old could be pleased with his first start. Impressed with his set-piece play, whereas Johan Grobbelaar had a high work rate but lacked accuracy.

1: Gerhard Steenekamp (Bulls)

The Bulls were expected to enjoy scrum dominance, but that only came after Steenekamp’s arrival. He earned a number of penalties and was good in general play as well. He received bonus points for playing with a broken thumb.