The DHL Stormers, Cell C Sharks and Vodacom Bulls all booked their spots in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship playoffs with hard-fought home victories in the penultimate round of league action this weekend, while the Emirates Lions also finished their last home match of the season on a high.
The four South African sides scored 17 tries while conceding only nine on a weekend during which the traffic jam at the top of the standings became even more intense, with one round of matches left for the top sides before the quarter-finals early next month.
One thing is certain at this stage of the competition, and that is that Leinster will top the standings after they secured a losing bonus point against the DHL Stormers, who won a pulsating match in Cape Town against the Irish giants by 20-13, although the hosts missed out on what could still be a vital four-try bonus point.
All three other South African sides managed to bag a full haul of five league points in their final home matches. The Cell C Sharks beat Connacht by 41-21 in Durban to ensure the team from Galway could not get a whitewash against SA teams this season; the Vodacom Bulls were too strong for Glasgow Warriors (29-17) in Pretoria; and the Emirates Lions stormed back strongly to beat Benetton (37-29) in Johannesburg.
Ulster’s nail-biting 16-10 away victory over Edinburgh in the Scottish capital late on Saturday night blew the top of the standings wide open though, with only three log points separating positions two to six.
The top six on the log is dominated by teams from Ireland and South Africa. Leinster, on 62 points, will finish top of the pile in three weeks’ time, but the hosting rights in the other three quarter-finals can still go to any of the teams currently in positions two to six on the log.
Munster, the Cell C Sharks and DHL Stormers are all on 56 points, followed by Ulster (55), and the Vodacom Bulls (53). The final two spots in the top eight belong to Scottish sides Edinburgh and Glasgow, both on 50 points.
Scarlets, in ninth on 44 points, can’t make it into the playoffs anymore, and the Emirates Lions are currently in 11th on 37 points.
In their final league matches, the Cell C Sharks travel to Belfast to face Ulster and the Vodacom Bulls face the Ospreys in Swansea on Friday 20 May, and a day later, on Saturday 21 May, the Dragons host the Emirates Lions in Newport before the DHL Stormers and the Scarlets clash in Llanelli.
