The third-placed Bulls (45 points) and fourth-placed Sharks (44 points) are in pole position among the SA teams to qualify for the URC playoff stages as the competition heads into its business end.
Lower down, the Stormers (33 points) are eighth on the table, but still very much in the running for the knockout stage, while even the 13th-placed Emirates Lions (30 points) have an outside chance of qualifying with a do-or-die mindset.
The Stormers will take the field first against Ulster in Northern Ireland on Friday night, while SA’s rugby faithful have a jam-packed Saturday lined up with the Bulls hosting Zebre Parma in Pretoria, the Sharks taking on log-leaders Leinster in Durban, and the Lions lining up against defending champions, the Glasgow Warriors, in Scotland.
With only one log position and one point separating the Stormers and ninth-placed Ulster on the table, the battle in Belfast is expected to be epic as the Capetonians look retain their place in the top eight, while the Irish hosts will be desperate to displace the visitors and leap into the top half of the table.
The Sharks will then be looking to push towards a home quarter-final when they take on Leinster (19:15 kick off on Saturday), with the log leaders looking to bounce back from the unexpected defeat to the Bulls.
Speaking of the Pretoria-based side, they will be targeting a bonus-point win over Zebre at Loftus on Saturday (14:45 kick off), while the Lions are away to Glasgow later in the day (21:35 kick off SA time).
You can find the full set of fixtures here and the log standings here
The Sharks and Bulls are the URC
The quarter-finals of the competition take place on 30-31 May before we head straight into the semi-finals the following week.
The grand final takes place on Saturday, June 14.
Who do you think will win this season?
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Src: TheSouthAfrican.com - https://rugga.co.za/sharks/urc-sharks-bulls-close-in-on-playoffs/
