Sharks eye third place in URC

SA's teams have a timely gap to regroup before launching their final push in the United Rugby Championship (URC).

The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup semifinals come into focus this weekend without South African involvement, but that provides the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers the opportunity to sharpen their tools for the last two rounds of league action before the knock-out rounds in the URC. The Lions are just about out of the running, given their lowly 13th place on the points table.

The Bulls, after their splendid away wins over Munster and Glasgow Warriors, are primed to grab second place on the table. They are a point behind the second-placed Warriors, but have home matches against Cardiff and the cellar dwelling Dragons at Loftus Versfeld as their remaining league matches.

The Warriors face away matches against Benetton and Leinster and will perhaps be less optimistic about a 10-point haul.

The Bulls also boast one more win than the Warriors, which could prove helpful in the final log standings.

A Bulls victory over Cardiff will leave the Welsh club sweating as they then would have to beat the Stormers in Cape Town to ensure safe passage to the top eight.

The Sharks, who play the Ospreys and Scarlets in their remaining matches, will hope the Warriors will come unstuck in Treviso and Dublin in their remaining games. The Durban side trail the Bulls by five points, but have a more realistic chance of hauling in the Warriors, who are six points ahead of them.

They may not be able to catch the Bulls, but earning third spot would greatly enhance their prospects as that would avoid them having to travel to Leinster in the semifinals, should both teams reach the last four.

They will be drawn to play the Bulls in the semifinals, which is a prospect they might relish having completed the URC double over their Pretoria rivals in league play this season. They will be particularly buoyed by their last visit to Loftus Versfeld.

The Stormers, having had a subdued campaign by their standards, could still tip the apple cart in the knock-out rounds.

Their most urgent priority will be to finish higher than eighth and that should be well within their compass. That takes them out of the potential peril of a quarterfinal in Dublin. With home games against the Dragons and the Scarlets remaining, they are well placed to finish fifth, and as things stand they may well end up playing a quarterfinal in SA. The only other scenario is them boarding a plane en route to Glasgow.

If they slip up, they will leave the door ajar for Munster to grab a higher placing. Munster have home matches against Ulster and Benetton and will have at least eight more log points in their crosshairs.

The picture looks bleak for the Lions, but they can still sneak in if they win their remaining matches against the Scarlets and Ospreys with bonus points to boot. The latter game may be a straight shoot-out for a top eight spot, but several other results will have to go in the Lions' favour for them to sneak through the back door.