Sa Teams Are Well Placed For Urc Success After Poor Overall Showing In The European Cups

The Bulls are South Africas sole survivors in the European Cup competitions but better news is that all four franchises can still make the United Rugby Championship URC play-offs.

The Sharks and Bulls are virtually certain to make the top eight in the URC given their current positions and with just four rounds to go, but the Stormers and Lions need to finish with a flourish to make it through the back door.

The promising situation for the latter teams is that they are at home for the last four fixtures and three of their four opponents are in the bottom half of the 16-team URC points table.

The four South African teams have unashamedly favoured the URC ahead of the Challenge Cup and even when the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers featured in the Champions Cup, their focus was more on the URC. All three sides at some point sent second-string sides for Champions Cup fixtures. For example, a Bulls B team shipped 49 points away to Castres and an under-strength Sharks side were beaten 66-12 in Bordeaux.

Embarrassing as those defeats were, the Bulls are sitting pretty in third place in the URC and the Sharks are over their shoulder in fourth.