URC run-in: Bulls secure quarter-final place while Sharks, Stormers have it all to do

The Bulls confirmed their place inside the United Rugby Championship (URC) top eight and a quarter-final place with their wondrous 78-12 win over Zebre Parma at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The men from Pretoria boosted their points difference with their 11-tries-to-two rout of the Italians in Johannesburg.

It means Jake White’s men, who are currently in seventh on the URC standings, can climb as high as fifth going into the final round-robin games should they get a bonus-point win over Leinster at Loftus next weekend, provided Munster (5th) and Connacht (6th) slip up in their games against the Sharks and Glasgow Warriors, respectively.

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But the Bulls director of rugby can breathe a sigh of relief after they ended their URC winless run that stretched back to January, meaning his team cannot drop out of the top eight and confirmed their place in next year’s Champions Cup in the process.

However, a higher-placed finish won’t change the fact that they will play their knockout games on the road starting in the last eight.

Unless there are some major shocks en route to the grand final, where the Bulls lost to the Stormers in the Mother City last year, they will likely be on the road, still, the further they progress.

The defending URC champions, the Stormers, have it all to do in their final league-stage match with Benetton Treviso in Cape Town on Friday night (18:30).

Defeat to Munster 26-24 at home on Saturday dropped John Dobson’s men to third on the URC ladder behind Ulster (64), who hold a single-point advantage going into their last match against Edinburgh at home.

Ulster, who kick off at 20:35 (SA time) on Friday, will also have