SA's power game the key to overseas upsets

OPINION: The Bulls and Stormers may need to follow the Springboks’ lead in order to claim semifinal wins against Glasgow Warriors and Leinster this Saturday.

The Bulls manhandled Munster to win 45-14 in the United Rugby Championship quarterfinal staged in Pretoria this past Saturday.

After a challenging start to the season, Johan Ackermann’s charges have struck a better balance in their approach, and have won seven of their last eight games.

It’s fair to say that the Bulls are peaking at the right time.

The jury’s still out on the Stormers, who looked the part in the early stages of the campaign, only to lose momentum at the end of the league phase.

That said, there were moments in the recent quarterfinal clash against Cardiff where the Stormers played brutal and intelligent rugby.

John Dobson’s team targeted Cardiff at the scrums and mauls, and were rewarded with a series of penalties.

The hosts’ initial kick-chase strategy paid dividends, as they retained possession and punched through one of the best defences in the league.

Cardiff enjoyed a brief comeback after half-time, but the “slow poison” – applied via the Stormers’ set-piece and kicking game – started to tell in the latter stages, and the hosts eventually emerged with a 44-21 victory.

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GLASGOW AND LEINSTER’S WEAK SPOT

What do the performances in Pretoria and Cape Town mean for South Africa’s semifinal prospects?

There’s no getting around the fact that the Bulls and Stormers will travel to Europe this week as underdogs.

The Bulls have lost twice in Scotland this season, while the Stormers have never won a URC play-off in the northern hemisphere.

Based on that record, you probably wouldn’t bet on an all-South African URC Final playing out in Cape Town on June 20.

And yet, the Bulls and Stormers’ recent performances – as well as those of Glasgow and Leinster – will give local fans hope.

Let’s rewind a few weeks to the Champions Cup play-offs.

While the South African teams didn’t cover themselves in glory, it was interesting to note where and how Glasgow and Leinster came undone.

Glasgow battled to live with the power of Toulon in the quarterfinals, while Leinster were blown away by Bordeaux Bégles in the decider.

While Bordeaux’s attacking stats are difficult to ignore, a lot should be read into how the French side bullied Leinster over the course of that final, and how they kicked 31 times from hand.

Indeed, much has been made about Leinster’s poor record in recent Champions Cup finals as well as their inability to live with the physicality of leading French teams.

The same point has been made about the Ireland national team over the past 12 months, following heavy losses to France in the Six Nations and to the Boks in Dublin last November.

The latter fixture should inspire the Stormers in particular, as they go searching for a rare win in the Irish capital this Saturday.

At their best – and particularly during the early stages of the campaign – the Stormers have resembled the current Bok side in mindset and approach.

The Stormers have used the scrum and maul as weapons over the course of a contest – and Dobson has occasionally included a second tight five within a six-two split, with the aim of maintaining the team’s physical effort over 80 minutes.

The Stormers’ game management behind the pack and their overall conversion rate has been another story – and that will be a big talking point in the lead-up to the showdown with Leinster.

The Bulls have fired and frustrated in equal measure, but like the Stormers, they have the potential to overwhelm their northern counterparts and to claim a monumental victory.

Ackermann has a number of Springbok forwards at his disposal, and one of the game’s finest kickers in Handré Pollard at No.10.

The fact that the Bulls will face the Scots on a grass pitch at Murrayfield as opposed to a 4G surface up in Glasgow could also make all the difference.

BEEFING UP THE BENCH

It will be interesting to see how Ackermann and Dobson approach the coming play-offs in terms of selection.

Both coaches should look to harness their teams’ set-piece strengths and to amplify the impact of their big ball-carriers.

With that in mind, both may well favour a six-two split on the bench.

While Rassie Erasmus favoured a five-three split across many of South Africa’s Tests last year, a six-two formation was preferred in four of the five matches staged in Europe, before the Bok coach unleashed a seven-one bench against Wales in the final game of the season.

The Stormers will travel to Dublin without one of their best players in Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

While Jurie Matthee was at the heart of a monumental 35-0 win against Leinster in Cape Town earlier this season, it remains to be seen whether the less experienced flyhalf can deliver in a play-off staged in Dublin.

At the very least, the Stormers will hope for some luck regarding injuries at the Aviva Stadium.

If Matthee goes down, they may turn to less reliable goal-kickers such as Damian Willemse or Imad Khan – and the latter missed a sitter shortly after Feinberg-Mngomezulu sustained an ankle injury this past Saturday.

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Embrose Papier’s first try… still hits 😮‍🔥

Watch Quarter-Finals history unfold, LIVE on Premier Sports 🚀#BKTURC #URC | #BULvMUN pic.twitter.com/l6o0S4AuUm

— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) May 30, 2026

MINDSET SHIFT

The Lions failed to impose themselves on Leinster in the quarterfinal in Dublin this past weekend and paid a big price.

The hosts dictated proceedings from start to finish and emerged with a 59-10 victory.

The Bulls and Stormers should take a lesson from that recent result.

If they go into their respective semifinals with the wrong mindset, they may well cop a hiding.

The South African teams have the means to win the set-piece battles, the collisions, and the aerial contest. Knowing that, they will feel they have a chance in Edinburgh and Dublin.

At the same time, they should know that physical dominance and aerial superiority doesn’t always translate into points on the scoreboard.

They will have to be more ruthless when they find themselves in scoring positions.

They cannot expect every refereeing decision to go their way, and – like the Springboks have shown in recent seasons – they have to be prepared to adapt as the contest unfolds.

The discipline as well as the conversion rate of the two teams will be in the spotlight.

Players in both set-ups should know that a single penalty or botched chance could cost their team a place in the URC Final.

Furthermore, they should know that the Bok coaches will be watching closely.

Plans for the 2026 Test season have reached an advanced stage, and performances in these high-stakes club matches will have a bearing on selections for coming matches against the Barbarians, England, Scotland and Wales.

Most experts will tell you that the Bulls and Stormers are unlikely to advance to the URC Final, given the challenges facing travelling teams.

And yet, when one considers the specific strengths and weaknesses of all the teams involved, there’s more than one reason to believe that an upset or two may be on the cards.