It’s now crunch time in the URC for SA teams

It is crunch time in the United Rugby Championship (URC) for the South African teams over the next two weeks as their results will likely determine if they make it into the competition knockouts and if they will be able to host a playoff.

SA’s top performing team this season, the fourth placed Bulls, can secure a home quarterfinal if they pick up 10 points in their next two games, which would give them an unassailable lead over the fifth placed Stormers going into the final pool match of the season.

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They face a tricky encounter against the top of the table Glasgow Warriors this coming Saturday, but on the Highveld with a mid-afternoon kick-off the Bulls can definitely pull off a bonus point win, while they will be favourites for a full house of points hosting Benetton a week later.

Stormers and Lions

The Stormers have a tough two game away tour to contend with, but they will target a bonus point win over struggling Dragons in Newport on Friday night to keep themselves in the top four hunt, before they head to Galway for a difficult encounter against Connacht the following weekend.

This weekend will be a vitally important one for the 11^th placed Lions and could see them back in the top eight mix by the end of it if they pick up a full house of points like they should against 12^th placed Cardiff.

After their disappointing loss against defending champs Munster in their last outing, the Lions are on the brink of dropping out of the race, especially if they slip up against the Welsh visitors on Saturday.

But if they pick up an expected bonus point win they could be assisted by three teams above them on the log facing extremely difficult games.

Tough away games

Sixth placed Connacht and eighth placed Benetton are both five points ahead of the Lions but face tough away games against Munster and the Sharks respectively, while 10^th placed Ospreys face the might of Leinster in Dublin.

Following this weekend’s game the Lions will host Glasgow in what will probably be a must win game to keep themselves in the top eight hunt ahead of their final pool game away against the Stormers at the start of June.

Although the Sharks have very little skin left in the URC this season, as they are out of the running for the top eight, they will likely want to build momentum into the Challenge Cup final, where they will face English club Gloucester at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in the final weekend of May.

The Sharks host Benetton and Cardiff over the next two weekends and they might be tempted to rotate their squad against the Italians on Saturday to give some guys a rest, before backing a possible full strength team against Cardiff to build momentum into the Gloucester match.