URC quarter-finals: Stormers to tackle champs

The Stormers travel to Scotland while the Vodacom Bulls and Sharks look to make home-ground advantage count in the opening round of the URC playoffs in two weeks’ time.

With the top eight confirmed on Friday night, Saturday’s URC matches in Pretoria, Durban and Dublin determined the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers’ quarter-final opponents.

On Friday, Edinburgh and Munster booked their playoff spots, with Edinburgh claiming a bonus-point win against Ulster at Hive Stadium and Munster beating Benetton in Limerick.

Those results ended the top-eight hopes of Cardiff, who lost 34-24 to the Stormers in Cape Town, and John Dobson’s men take on defending champions Glasgow Warriors – who went down 13-5 to log-leaders Leinster at Aviva Stadium on Saturday – in the first of the last-eight clashes at Scotstoun Stadium.

The Bulls secured second spot on the URC log with a 55-15 demolition of Dragons at Loftus, and host Edinburgh, while the Sharks booked a Kings Park showdown with Munster by grinding out a 12-3 win against Scarlets, who cross swords with Leinster in the first round of this season’s knockout stages.

The semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday, 7 June, with the Stormers or Glasgow set to face the winners between Leinster and Scarlets, and the Bulls and Sharks on a potential collision course on the Highveld.

URC 2024-25 quarter-finals
Friday, 30 May
Glasgow Warriors vs Stormers, Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow, 8.35pm
Saturday, 31 May
Bulls vs Edinburgh, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, 1.30pm
Leinster vs Scarlets, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, 4pm
Sharks vs Munster, Kings Park, Durban, 6.30pm

Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images