Ulster kicks off the Final Eight schedule as they welcome Munster to Kingspan Stadium on Friday night. It will be the third time the sides meet this season as Ulster will look to pick up their first win against the visitors.
Saturday's games will kick off with a South African derby as Cell C Sharks make the trip to Pretoria to face Vodacom Bulls. Leinster host Glasgow Warriors at RDS while Italian/Scottish Shield winners Edinburgh make the journey to Cape Town as they face South African Shield winners DHL Stormers.
Fiday 03 June 2022
Ulster vs Munster (Kingspan Stadium @ 20h35)
Munster has won both URC meetings between these two sides this season, including a 24-17 victory in Belfast only last month.
Ulster beat the Cell C Sharks 24-21 in Belfast to secure a home quarter-final and won at Edinburgh in their previous fixture to halt a losing run of three matches in the URC while Munster head to Belfast on the back of a pair of disappointing results, having suffered a heart-breaking defeat to Toulouse in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals at the Aviva Stadium before a 35-25 defeat to Leinster at the same venue saw them slip out of the URC’s top four.
Early Prediction - Munster by 12
Saturday 04 June 2022 (Loftus Versveld @13h45)
The Sharks have come out on top in both URC meetings so far this term, winning 30-16 in Durban before prevailing 29-22 at Loftus Versfeld.
The Bulls are one of the form teams heading into the play-offs, having climbed into the top four in Round 18 following a run of eight wins in nine matches. The Sharks lost their grip on a home play-off by losing 24-21 to Ulster in Round 18 but had won their previous four matches in a row.
Interesting statistics have the Bulls pair Kurt-Lee Arendse and Madosh Tambwe top the URC charts for both clean breaks (22 & 20 respectively) and metres gained (991 & 949) while the Sharks have kicked for more metres than any other side in the competition this season (14,001).
Early Prediction - Vodacom Bulls by 8
Leinster vs Glasgow Warriors (RDS Arena @ 16h45)
Leinster were 31-15 victors at Scotstoun in the only meeting between the sides this season but it was the Warriors who came out on top in last year’s Rainbow Cup. The last meeting in Dublin finished 40-21 in Leinster’s favour in February 2021. Glasgow last won at the RDS in April 2019.
Leinster secured home advantage throughout the playoffs by finishing top of the overall table, so they will host the final should they make it that far. They suffered back-to-back defeats on their tour to South Africa with a rotated squad last month but have since reached the Heineken Champions Cup final and beaten Munster 35-25.
Glasgow head into the play-offs on a four-match losing run in all competitions, including a 28-11 Round 18 defeat to Edinburgh that cost them a place in next season's Heineken Champions Cup.
Early Prediction - Leinster by 18
DHL Stormers vs Edinburgh (DHL Stadium @ 19h00)
The only previous meeting between these sides ended in a 20-20 draw at the DAM Health Stadium in October, with Edinburgh having led 14-0 after only seven minutes.
The Stormers beat the Scarlets 26-21 in Llanelli on Saturday to clinch second place and home advantage through to the Final Four should they make it that far. That result made it eight wins on the bounce for John Dobson’s side, whose only home defeat this season came against the Emirates Lions in December.
Edinburgh is, along with Connacht, one of only two northern hemisphere sides to have won in South Africa this season and won the Scottish/Italian Shield with a 28-11 win against Glasgow in Round 18.
Early Prediction - DHL Stormers by 5