Exeter Chiefs enjoyed another one of their great European occasions last Saturday night when they picked up an excellent bonus-point win in Castres.

It made for impressive viewing as the Chiefs welcomed back all of their internationals from the autumn Test matches.It also levelled the scores at 1-1 for the England-France battles taking place that evening, coming as it did only an hour after England had seen their World Cup hopes dashed by France in Qatar.

A few hours before that, today’s Sandy Park visitors the Bulls were also getting their Champions Cup campaign off to a great start with a bonus-point 42-36 victory over Lyon.

Anyone who has listened to me on BBC Radio Devon over the past few months will know I am not in favour of South African teams playing in Europe’s top club competition, just as I would not be in favour of them replacing Italy in the Six Nations Championship.

It just doesn’t sit right with me, and it will be a strange old day if the Champions Cup final next spring is being contested by two South African sides.

That said, it doesn’t mean I am not looking forward to today’s match at Sandy Park. It should be a titanic battle – but I just wish it was not a Champions Cup tie!

Two of the three South African teams made winning starts to this year’s competition, with the Sharks seeing off a Harlequins comeback to triumph 39-31, but the Stormers went down 24-14 in my favourite European ground – Clermont’s Stade Marcel Michelin.

The Bulls’ director of rugby is Jake White, who was being touted for the England head coach job last time it was available before it went to Eddie Jones.

As expected, Jones was finally sacked last week, and while it is never nice to see someone lose their job, I just couldn’t see how England were going to win the World Cup in France next year if he remained in position.

White has been playing down the Bulls’ chances – and those of South African sides in general in the Champions Cup – during the past week, saying he saw little prospect of a repeat of the success last season in the United Rugby Championship, when the Stormers won the final in South African sides' first year in the competition.

The Pretoria-based Bulls faced a 24-hour journey to get to Exeter that included a flight to Doha before arriving in London, followed by a four-hour bus trip.

White was quoted as saying: “Do you genuinely think that our squads are strong enough to beat Toulouse in the quarter-finals, La Rochelle in the semi-finals and Leinster away from home in a final in three consecutive weekends?

“If you do then either you’re disconnected from reality or there’s going to be a lot of luck that’s needed for that team considering they’re also playing in the Currie Cup and the URC.”He added: 

“In a one-off game, you can maybe beat a top side. But to consecutively back it up week after week at the end of a long season against three teams that have a budget of 180 million rand as opposed to 70 million, I think we’re kidding ourselves.”