The four South African teams, all of whom bagged try-scoring bonus points on the weekend, have one more round of home matches next weekend and then will wrap up the round-robin stages with away matches in May before the quarter-finalists and all the venues for those matches will be confirmed.
DHL Stormers are currently placed second on the combined log, while the Cell C Sharks are one point behind the Stormers in the fourth spot. The Vodacom Bulls are three points behind the Sharks in the eighth position, and this is where it gets interesting.
The first eight placed teams after the league matches will go into the quarter-finals scheduled to be played on the weekend of the third of June, however, unfortunately for the Bulls at this stage is the winner of each shield, being Ireland, Italy, South Africa and Wales, is secured a place in the last eight playoff's.
The top Welsh Shield club is the Scarlets who are currently ninth on the log and will therefore replace the Bulls in the Top Eight at this stage of the competition.
The DHL Stormers marched into an impressive second place and the Cell C Sharks into fourth on the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log, while the Vodacom Bulls remained in the eighth position in a rewarding round for three of South Africa’s four sides.
The DHL Stormers delivered a flashy performance against the Glasgow Warriors in Cape Town on Friday night to snatch a bonus-point 32-7 victory in the process.
On Saturday, the Cell C Sharks held out log-leaders, Leinster in Durban for a bonus-point 28-23 win, after the Vodacom Bulls outplayed Benetton 46-29 in Pretoria in which in Kurt-Lee Arendse (fullback) scored a brace. All three teams remain in playoff contention with two rounds of pool matches left for each of them.
The Emirates Lions were the only South African team to taste defeat as they suffered a heart-breaking 33-30 defeat against Connacht in Johannesburg, which left them lower down on the log (12th position) with only pride left to play for.
