The Bulls dethroned the Stormers as the kings of South African rugby, when they were crowned SA Shield winners at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.
Coach Jake White’s men beat their hosts the Sharks 26-14 to seal the Shield and also bag second place on the United Rugby Championship table after the conclusion of the round-robin stage.
The hosts were missing injured Springboks Lukhanyo Am and Eben Etzebeth, among others, as Akker van der Merwe crossed twice for the Bulls in the second half, with Dan Kriel and Johan Grobbelaar scoring in the first half for the bonus-point win and a 12-7 lead at the break.
The hosts were showing admirable resilience given their URC season was over after the game and in the third quarter they began shifting through the gears with Dylan Richardson going over to add to Siya Masuku’s earlier try.
But it wasn’t enough as the Bulls booked a home quarterfinal against Italian side Benetton.
With the win the Bulls also, for the first time, won the South African conference and sealed second place on the URC log, which puts them in a strong position to possibly also host the URC final, should they reach it.