It was a round of mixed fortunes for South Africa’s four URC teams as the curtain came down on the regular season, but ultimately it is the Bulls and Stormers who will be able to enjoy home ground advantage when the quarter-finals kick off.
In this past weekend’s final round of pool matches, the Bulls and Sharks finished the round-robin stages with impressive wins, while the Stormers and Lions suffered disappointing defeats, but remained in the top eight for quarter-final berths.
Bulls set to kick off epic clash against Munster
The Bulls, who secured a rewarding fourth-place finish thanks to their bonus-point 45-19 victory against Benetton at home, will meet Munster in Pretoria in their quarter-final next weekend, with kick off at 13:00.
“It’s always nice to play at home and hopefully we can use that to our advantage,” Bulls coach Johan Ackermann said.
“Munster are a quality side with a lot of good internationals. We know we’ll have to lift our standards.”
Don’t forget that that URC quarter-finals will only take place next weekend due to the EPCR finals this weekend.
As it is, several players are set to attend the Springbok alignment camp this week.
All quarter-finals:
Friday, 29 May
QF1: Glasgow Warriors v Connacht
Venue: Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow
SA time: 20:45
Saturday, 30 May
QF4: Bulls v Munster
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
KO: 13:00
QF3: Stormers v Cardiff
Venue: DHL Stadium, Cape Town
SA time 15:30
QF2: Leinster v Lions
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
SA time 21:00
While the four home quarter-finalists are best placed to reach the decider, history may yet deliver a twist — only one team ranked No 1 has ever lifted the URC trophy.
In past seasons, it was fourth-placed Glasgow Warriors (2024), fifth-placed Munster (2023), and second-placed Stormers (2022) who emerged as champions before first-placed Leinster finally claimed the crown last year.
