The Stormers and Bulls will host valuable home quarter-finals in the United Rugby Championship against Edinburgh and the Sharks respectively, following a pulsating closing round of league action this past weekend.

In the other two quarter-finals, log-leaders Leinster will take on the Glasgow Warriors, and Ulster will host Munster in an all-Ireland playoff. All four matches are scheduled for the first weekend of June, and kick-off times and venues will be confirmed in due course.

The Stormers sealed second place on the standings with a bonus point 26-21 victory against the Scarlets in Llanelli on Saturday, securing the South African Shield in the process as the top domestic team, which means a quarter-final victory will guarantee them a home semi-final.

The Bulls, in turn, held out the Ospreys for a valuable 38-31 victory in Swansea on Friday night to leap into fourth position on the table for a home quarter-final, leap-frogging the Sharks on the log after they were beaten 24-21 by Ulster in Belfast a bit earlier on Friday.

The Lions made it three from four for the South African teams on the road this weekend after they were too strong for the Dragons in Newport on Saturday afternoon, winning by 21-11.

Stormers flyhalf Manie Libbok finished the league phase of the competition as the top points’ scorer with 142, followed by the Sharks’ Curwin Bosch in second on 124, while the Lions’ Jordan Hendrikse finished joint-sixth on 111 points.

The top three try scorers are all from South African teams – Leolin Zas of the Stormers tops the list on 10 tries, while his team-mate Seabelo Senatla, and Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee, have scored nine each. Bulls hooker Johan Grobbelaar is joint-fourth with eight tries.

Evan Roos (No 8) of the Stormers tops the lists for most successful carries, with 125, and defenders beaten (45), while Bulls fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse made the most clean breaks (21) and gained the most metres in the competition, with 991m. Coetzee’s 32 offloads is also the most in the competition.

Late win in Llanelli pushes Stormers into top two

The Stormers ended the league stages of the United Rugby Championship with a valuable 26-21 victory against the Scarlets in Llanelli on Saturday to push them into second place on the log, securing a home quarter-final in two weeks' time, as well as the South African Shield title.

But it was a close affair as the Stormers secured the win with a Ruhan Nel try in the dying seconds after the hosts managed to close the gap between the two sides on the scoreboard late in the match.

The Scarlets tried hard to stamp their authority in the first half, and this was met by a committed attacking performance by the team from Cape Town. In the end a converted try and two penalty goals by the hosts saw them edge the visitors by two points at half-time, despite the visitors outscoring them by two tries to one.

The second half delivered some thrilling rugby, with Nel scoring a brace to secure the vital bonus-point win to push them into second place on the log.

Scorers:

Scarlets: Tries - Jonny Williams, Ryan Conbeer Conv. - Sam Costelow Pen. - Costelow (3).

Stormers: Tries - Leolin Zas, Evan Roos, Ruhan Nel (2) Conv. - Manie Libbok (3).

Sharks go down fighting against Ulster in Belfast

The Sharks left it late as they lost 24-21 against a determined Ulster outfit in their final United Rugby Championship league match at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast on Friday.

The Sharks had opportunities to score in the first half after making their way close to the tryline on a few occasions, but they were unable to breach the strong Ulster defence.

The hosts, in turn, capitalised on their chances and scored a converted try by Michael Lowry (fullback), while John Cooney (scrumhalf) kicked a conversion and penalty goal to hand them a 10-0 halftime lead.

The second half was a completely different ballgame as the Cell C Sharks scored 21 points to 14 by the home side, compliments of three converted tries, but their efforts were too little too late in the crucial encounter, and they only managed to walk away with a losing bonus point for their efforts.

Scorers:

Ulster: Tries - Michael Lowry, Stuart McCloskey, James Hume Conv. - John Cooney (3) Pen. -  Cooney.

Sharks: Tries - Ntuthuko Mchunu, Marius Louw, Grant Williams Conv. - Curwin Bosch, Boeta Chamberlain (2).

Hendricks hat-trick steers Bulls to win in Swansea

Cornal Hendricks scored a second-half hat-trick to help steer the Bulls to a superb 38-31 victory (half-time 12-10) in their final United Rugby Championship league match against the Ospreys in Swansea on Friday evening.

This win not only gave the men from Pretoria the necessary momentum before their quarter-final in two weeks’ time, but also underlined their ability to mix ruthless forward play with superb attacking skills at the back, while the Ospreys’ two bonus points – courtesy of two late tries that shrunk the score from 38-17 to just seven points – which ultimately proved the difference as they claimed the Welsh Shield by one log point over the Scarlets.

Although the visitors were guilty of a few soft moments, which allowed the Welshmen to remain in the game until midway through the second half, they did what was necessary to put the result beyond all doubt through with brilliant game control, and a red-hot Hendricks.

Scorers:

Ospreys: Tries - Jac Morgan, Luke Morgan (2), Sam Parry Conv. - Gareth Anscombe (4) Pen. - Anscombe.

Bulls: Tries - Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith, Canan Moodie, Cornal Hendricks (3) Conv. - Smith (4).

Lions sign off in style against Dragons

With their dominant pack setting the tone, the Lions finished the inaugural season of the United Rugby Championship on a high note by beating the Dragons by 21-11 (half-time 7-11) on a sunny but windy Saturday afternoon at Rodney Parade in Newport.

It was clear from the outset that the men from Johannesburg were keen to give the ball air and play as much rugby as possible in their final match of the season, but mistakes also crept into their game, which probably cost them valuable momentum at times.

Be that as it may, they still scored three tries to one and defended very well to sign off the season in style, while the Dragons were relegated to their 15th defeat of the campaign, with their discipline and execution letting them down at crucial stages of the game.

Scorers:

Dragons: Try - Rio Dyer Pen. - Will Reed (2).

Lions: Tries - Edwill van der Merwe, Ruan Venter, Ruan Dreyer Conv. - Jordan Hendrikse (3).