Vital derby battles to light up the URC this weekend

The final local derbies of the United Rugby Championship (URC) pool stage are set to be battled out at Loftus and Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, with the Bulls welcoming the Lions and the Stormers hosting the Sharks.

It is a vitally important weekend for all four South African franchises as they attempt to achieve their various goals in the competition.

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Including this weekend’s games, only four matches remain for each team in the pool stage, and with three of the SA sides chasing a top four spot, and one trying to reach the knockouts, it is a make-or-break weekend.

The Stormers are the most comfortable SA team on the URC log and look like they will secure second spot behind runaway leaders Leinster.

Hot favourites

They will be targeting a full house of five points against the Sharks this weekend, and considering they hammered them in Durban a few weeks back, they will be hot favourites to do just that.

The Sharks will, however, be getting desperate and it will be interesting to see if that inspires them to a stronger performance against the hosts.

The Durban side have really struggled without their Springbok stars this season, as seen in their heavy home loss to the Stormers and their disappointing defeat to an international shorn Ulster over the past weekend, and they know that another defeat will essentially end their chances of a top four finish.

Top four places

The other SA franchise chasing a top four place is the Bulls and they will be aiming to get back on track with a full house of points against the Lions.

The Bulls have lost their last two games in the competition, a poor defeat against Scarlets in Wales late last month, but they were much improved when just being edged by the Stormers at home two weekends ago.

With the teams ahead of them on the log, Munster and Glasgow Warriors, expected to win their games this weekend, the Bulls know a win over the Lions is imperative to keep them in the hunt for a top four spot.

The Lions themselves are desperate to continue their recovery after a disastrous run of form was snapped over the past weekend.

The Lions had lost their previous five URC games to crash from fifth on the table to 14^th, but a superb bonus point win over Glasgow lifted them to 12^th and put them back into the hunt for a top eight place, but a loss against the Bulls could end their chances.