Bulls to host Benetton, Stormers away to Warriors in URC quarters

The Bulls' 26-14 win over the Sharks in Durban has earned them a United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against Benetton Treviso at Loftus Versfeld next weekend.

The win also earned them the SA Shield for the first time.

The Bulls finished the game on top of the points table but later on Saturday, Munster's hard-fought win over Ulster earned them pole position by two points over the Pretoria side.

The quarterfinal line-up was determined after the Ospreys grabbed the last spot away from the Lions in their win over Cardiff.

In the first quarterfinal Munster will host the Ospreys at 8.35pm on Friday night. The Bulls tackle Benetton Treviso at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday at 3.30pm, while Leinster will host Ulster at 6pm.

The Stormers will take their challenge to Glasgow where they will meet the Warriors at 8.35pm.

Though they held the upper hand for the bulk of the clash it was a hard-fought victory for the Bulls against opponents who lacked the cohesion they displayed a week earlier.

Of course the Sharks made significant personnel changes to the team that won the Challenge Cup final and it showed as they were short of the coherence and fluidity that helped bring them silverware. They did not lack for fighting spirit, however.

The Sharks, though, boasting an all Springbok front row, were beaten to the punch at scrum time by the less heralded Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw.

The visitors had the better of the gainline too with Elrigh Louw and Marco van Staden putting dents into the Sharks' defence.

Behind the pack Embrose Papier was a handful when he evaded tacklers. He was a menace to the home side's defence in the way he sniped around the fringes.

The Sharks could not get a steady supply of front-foot ball and when they were able to put they Bulls under pressure they committed errors in handling and decision-making.

They were feisty throughout, however, and they made the Bulls dig deep in the final quarter after replacement Dylan Richardson's determined burst earned the hosts a try to bring them back within striking distance with more than 10 minutes to go.

The Bulls, realising the consequences of defeat, regrouped and beat down the hosts' challenge with a second try for replacement hooker Akker van der Merwe with four minutes to go.

Despite falling short, Sharks coach John Plumtree was pleased with his team's effort.

“I think everyone enjoyed the spectacle. I was hoping there was going to be a good physical encounter and I think that is what it was.

“We had a couple of opportunities to go ahead and didn’t quite nail it and the difference was their forwards, their maul tries.

“I thought the boys tried real hard, worked hard for each other. I was happy with some of the stuff we did but we weren’t quite clinical enough.

“It was a tough encounter for us, the boys had done a lot of work over the last three or four weeks so I was really proud of the effort.”