The Vodacom Bulls - who were assured of the second spot on the standings going into the final pool round - continued their winning ways by crushing the Dragons 55-15 in Pretoria and will face Edinburgh in the quarter-final, while the South African shield winners, the Hollywoodbets Sharks, ensured that they finished in third place by defeating the Scarlets 12-3 in a close contest in Durban, while Glasgow were losing in Dublin. They will take on Munster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, with both matches taking place on Saturday 31 May.
The DHL Stormers, meanwhile, remained in fifth position on the table as they beat Cardiff 34-24 in Cape Town on Friday, which earned them a playoff spot against the Glasgow Warriors in Scotland on Friday 30 May.
The other quarter-final will see log-leaders, Leinster, take on the Scarlets in Dublin on Saturday 31 May.
The Emirates Lions, meanwhile, fought until the bitter end against the Ospreys in Johannesburg, scoring a last-minute try to finish their campaign on a positive note with a 29-28 win after being knocked out of the Race to Eight in the last few weeks, finishing the pool stages in 11th position.
The teams will have next week off as the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup finals play out before returning to the field for these vital encounters.
Stormers fight until the end in thriller against Cardiff
The DHL Stormers were full value for their 34-24 win against Cardiff in a thrilling and drama-filled contest at the DHL Stadium on Friday night, where both teams received red cards, with the home side’s five tries to four by the visitors earning them the well-deserved victory.
A late penalty goal by talented Springbok back Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, was decisive in scuppering Cardiff’s hopes of possibly sneaking into the top eight after the team were on course to earn two points for four tries and losing by seven points with a minute left to play.
The Capetonians made a strong statement from the outset, with Leolin Zas scoring their first try in the ninth minute from some enterprising play, but Cardiff took the lead five minutes later thanks to their first converted try.
The home side scored their second try in the 24th minute compliments of Suleiman Hartzenberg to celebrate his 50th match for the team in style, and their hopes of a victory were bolstered five minutes later as Cardiff were reduced to 14 men after a dangerous tackle saw Danny Southworth receive a red card.
This paved the way for Zas to score his second try for a 19-7 lead, before Cardiff struck back with their second try shortly before halftime to trail by 19-12 going into the sheds.
The DHL Stormers secured their bonus-point try six minutes into the second half, compliments of Hartzenberg, which was cancelled out by Cardiff’s third try minutes later to reduce their deficit to 24-17 before the teams were square on 14 men apiece as Damian Willemse received his marching orders, also for a dangerous tackle.
The Cape side’s fifth try by Connor Evans nudged them into a 31-17 lead with nine minutes left to play, but Cardiff scored their bonus-point try soon after to stay within seven points of the hosts with minutes left on the clock.
Their hopes of earning two bonus points, however, were crushed by a last-minute penalty goal by Feinberg-Mngomezulu to seal the 34-24 victory.
While the result was encouraging for the home team, who played entertaining and expansive rugby, they will place a big emphasis on rounding off their try-scoring chances going into the playoffs, as they missed out on several opportunities to register a much more comfortable victory due to shortcomings in their handling.
Scorers:
DHL Stormers 34 (19) – Tries: Leolin Zas (2), Suleiman Hartzenberg (2), Connor Evans. Conversions: Damian Willemse (2), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Penalty Goal: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Cardiff 24 (12) – Tries: Danny Southworth, Gabe Harmer-Webb, Harri Millard, Daffyd Hughes. Conversions: Callum Sheedy (2).
Bulls pay tribute to Cornal Hendricks with dominant display against Dragons
The Vodacom Bulls paid a memorable tribute to their former team-mate Cornal Hendricks, who passed away earlier this week from a heart attack, with the team delivering a dominant display of rugby to ultimately outscore the Dragons nine tries to three for a rewarding 55-15 victory at Loftus Versfeld.
The Pretoria side gelled beautifully between the forwards and backs for most of the match, and this showed on the scoreboard as David Kriel, Cobus Wiese, Sebastian de Klerk, and Akker van der Merwe crossed the whitewash in the first half, while they held the visitors scoreless for a 26-0 halftime lead.
The Dragons, however, fought back strongly in the second half with two tries within six minutes early on, to cut their deficit to 26-10.
This charged up the home side immensely, and after a host of personnel changes, Van der Merwe earned his brace before Sergeal Petersen added his name to the scoresheet with back-to-back tries, followed by Marcell Coetzee and Devon Williams, which stretched their lead to 55-10.
With the game wrapped up comfortably, the Vodacom Bulls leaked a disappointing third try with six minutes to play. Nevertheless, the overwhelming victory handed the Vodacom Bulls the momentum they needed going into the knockout stages with a home quarter-final and possibly a home semi-final lined up if they advance to the top four.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls 55 (26) – Tries: David Kriel, Cobus Wiese, Sebastian de Klerk, Akker van der Merwe (2), Sergeal Petersen (2), Marcell Coetzee, Devon Williams. Conversions: Keagan Johannes (5).
Dragons 15 (0) – Tries: Huw Anderson, Rhodri Williams, Lewis Morgan.
The Lions scrum was strong all evening against Ospreys.
Late try sees Lions edge Ospreys to finish season on a high
A late try by Lubabalo Dobela in the final seconds of their final Vodacom United Rugby Championship match against the Ospreys clinched the team a dramatic 29-28 victory in a ding-dong battle between the sides, who were both playing purely for pride at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday.
It was a close contest from the outset as both teams threw everything at one another, but the Johannesburgers had the first say with Springbok Edwill van der Merwe scoring the first of their five tries in the ninth minute, shortly after being denied a try due to a knock-on.
Ospreys struck back with their first try two minutes later to take a two-point lead, and with both sides doing their utmost to breach the defence, it took 28 minutes before the Emirates Lions crossed for their second try by Jaco Visagie to take a 12-7 lead.
Both teams had further chances to score as halftime approached, but mistakes at crucial times saw the hosts hold onto their five-point lead going into the sheds.
The intense battle continued into the second half, with Ospreys scoring their second try and the conversion nudged them into the lead, but Visagie cancelled this out two minutes later with his brace to push the Emirates Lions back into the lead on the scoreboard.
The last quarter was gripping as the teams went hard at one another, with the Ospreys scoring twice in 15 minutes to secure their bonus point, while Henco van Wyk dotted down for the home team in between, which handed the Welsh outfit 28-24 lead with two minutes left on the clock.
The Emirates Lions, however, dug deep to get the ball out wide to Dobela in the final run of play in a dramatic finish to the match, to clinch the 29-28 victory.
Scorers:
Emirates Lions 29 (12) – Tries: Edwill van der Merwe, Jaco Visagie (2), Henco van Wyk, Lubabalo Dobela. Conversions: Dobela (2).
Ospreys 28 (7) – Tries: Will Griffiths, James Ratti, Jack Walsh, Sam Parry. Conversions: Dan Edwards (4).
Sharks kick their way to victory against Scarlets
The Hollywoodbets Sharks delivered on their objective to finish the pool stages of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in third position despite producing an error-riddled performance at a humid Hollywoodbets Kings Park for a 12-3 victory in a match determined only by goal kicks on Saturday.
The Durbanites dominated the territory battle and created several chances to score throughout the match while they also strung together several phases on attack at times, but costly mistakes denied them from scoring a single try.
Such was the disappointing quality of the match, the Hollywoodbets Sharks managed to score only a penalty goal in the first half by Siya Masuku, while the Scarlets kicked a late drop goal, which saw them go into the break level on three points apiece.
The second half was equally uneventful as the poor handling continued, which resulted in the KwaZulu-Natalians kicking three penalty goals by Springbok Aphelele Fassi – the last of which was on the stroke of full-time to deny the visitors a bonus point.
While there is no doubt that they need to step up their performance significantly to progress beyond the quarter-final, they will draw some inspiration from their defence, which saw them shut out the Scarlets throughout the match and hold the Welsh side scoreless in the second half.
Scorers:
Hollywoodbets Sharks 12 (3) – Penalty Goals: Siya Masuku, Aphelele Fassi (3).
Scarlets 3 (3) – Drop Goal: Sam Costelow.
