Tjooooe, its a tough call if you may ask me as the third team from the South African group will be either the Sharks or Bulls, and the winner will probably be decided at King’s Park on Saturday.
With two rounds remaining, the Sharks hold a three-point lead over the Bulls, the Lions have already clinched Afcon1 and are on track to reach their first final, and the Stormers’ nine-point lead in Afcon2 makes them heavy favourites to advance as SA’s second-best team.
The Bulls and Sharks both have Super Rugby pedigree, with the three-time champions from Pretoria still the only SA franchise to have lifted the trophy, while the Sharks have contested three finals.
The play-off contenders trade opponents over the next two weeks – the Sunwolves are in Pretoria on Saturday and then head to Durban next week, while the Cheetahs follow up this week’s visit to Durban with a trip to Loftus in the final round.
The one-win Sunwolves have conceded 75 tries in 13 matches and the only uncertainty is by how much they’ll lose against the Bulls and Sharks. This nullifies the Japanese tourists as a deciding factor, and ramps up the significance of the Cheetahs showdown for both teams.
Cheetahs skipper Francois Venter doesn’t fancy tackling, but he does know how to break the line, and his impact will be telling in the play-off race.
Venter will be running at a new-look Sharks midfield this week with Paul Jordaan injured and Andre Esterhuizen feeling a little worse for wear.
And next week, the Bulls will try to contain Venter without injured midfielder Jan Serfotnein and a groggy Burger Odendaal, who was concussed in Buenos Aires.
The Cheetahs have committed the most knock-ons this season and the Sharks are used to playing on the break – they lead the comp in turnovers won.
But without their stars, the Durban side gave up five tries at Ellis Park last week and, if they blink in Durbs, the Bulls could go into their last league match, against the Cheetahs, in control of their destiny.
