After a weekend of joy for the Sharks in historic European cup action, all four South African sides return to the Vodacom URC in round 16.
The Sharks became the first SA team to advance to the final of the Challenge Cup after John Plumtree’s charges fought back to beat Clermont Auvergne 32-31 in London on Saturday.
The URC playoffs are just around the corner and the Bulls, Stormers and Lions are very much in the race to the final eight.
The Stormers blow into Wales to tackle Dragons on Friday, before Saturday’s schedule has the Bulls take on front-runners Glasgow at Loftus Versfeld, the Sharks host Benetton in Durban and the Lions square up to Cardiff at Ellis Park.
With three rounds of the regular season remaining, the Bulls are in fourth place on the overall log with 51 points, behind leaders Glasgow (58) and Leinster (54) in second. The Stormers are in fifth (45), the Lions in 11th (39) and the Sharks are 16 points adrift in 13th spot on the log.
In the SA Shield, the Bulls lead the charge on 20 points from five derbies, closely followed by the Stormers with 17. The 2023-24 SA champions will be determined in the final round in June when both teams end the league phase of the season with an SA derby.
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The men from Pretoria are currently six points clear of the Stormers in their quest for a top-four finish and can pretty much make sure of it by beating Glasgow.
The round 15 results hurt some sides that were assumed to be climbing up the log, most notably the two losers on the Highveld, the Lions and Ospreys, but there is still enough of a logjam with 11 teams in the hunt for silverware in the run-up to the playoffs.
The Lions are one bonus-point win behind sixth-placed Connacht, and six behind the Stormers. Benetton occupy eighth spot on the table and are also on 44 points like Connacht and Ulster in seventh.
Third-placed Munster completed another successful trip to the Republic in round 15, netting a full house of 10 points, and that will give the defending champions a massive confidence boost for their remaining league matches at home.
Round 15 results:
Ulster 38-34 Benetton
Scarlets 27-32 Sharks
Zebre 9-40 Glasgow
Bulls 61-24 Ospreys
Cardiff 7-24 Edinburgh
Lions 13-33 Munster
Stormers 42-12 Leinster
Dragons 27-34 Connacht
Round 16 fixtures:
Friday, 10 May
Edinburgh vs Zebre (8:35pm)
Dragons vs Stormers (8:35pm)
Saturday, 11 May
Bulls vs Glasgow (2pm)
Sharks vs Benetton (4:05pm)
Scarlets vs Ulster (4:05pm)
Munster vs Connacht (6:15pm)
Lions vs Cardiff (6:15pm)
Leinster vs Ospreys (8:35pm)
Photo: @Springboks/Twitter
The post State of the URC: Bulls, Stormers lead SA charge appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
