Rested Stormers v game-ready Bulls: Whose strategy will come up trumps in URC eliminator?

The Stormers and Bulls have deployed two divergent strategies that could determine their do-or-die United Rugby Championship (URC) quarter-final in Cape Town this Saturday.

The Bulls fielded a near full-strength side in their Currie Cup loss to Western Province at Cape Town Stadium last weekend, while the Stormers gave their main players the long weekend off, perhaps out of sheer necessity rather than strategy.

Although Province embarrassed the Bulls, the Currie Cup result itself will matter little come 15:30 kick-off in Greenpoint this weekend.

What will hold far more water is how the game-ready Bulls team will fare against a rested Stormers outfit.

In playing seven match weeks in a row, the Bulls have won five times, including inflicting the biggest Leinster loss (62-7) at Loftus last month. 

The Stormers looked exhausted and shellshocked by Munster at home last month, which came on the back of a woeful Champions Cup exit to Exeter a week before.

But the Capetonians bounced back to beat Benetton in Stellenbosch two weeks ago in a laborious win that looked more formulaic than the usual fluorescent flair we've become used to.

As such, even though the Stormers hold a 5-0 win advantage over the Bulls since the advent of the URC, Springbok and Stormers utility back Damian Willemse is on the fence about who holds momentum going into the knockout game.

"I wouldn’t say we have the momentum. But going into a playoff, it’s going to be very neutral," Willemse said.

"They’re getting a few players back and they have guys who played over the weekend and got some rugby under their belts. We had a long weekend off.

"With the tough fixtures we had the past few months, coming home and losing to Munster was a bit of a blow for us, but we’re just