The Sharks and Bulls will host semi-finals -- the first playoff matches in South Africa in six years in Super rugby -- after sealing first and second places with massive last-round wins.
The Sharks beat the Stormers 36-10 to finish atop the Super 14 standings with a 10-win, 3-loss record. The Bulls, needing to win by 72 points to clinch second place, crushed the hapless Queensland Reds by a record 92-3 in the last match of the regular season.
The Sharks host the Auckland Blues at Durban on Saturday, followed by the Bulls against defending champions the Canterbury Crusaders at Pretoria.
PHOTO: AP
The Sharks finished the round-robin with 45 points while the Bulls, Crusaders and Blues were tied on 42. The Bulls sealed second place with a points differential of plus 165, the Crusaders were third at plus 147 and the Blues fourth at plus 120.
The Crusaders had seemed likely to host a semi-final, in spite of their 30-24 loss to the Waikato Chiefs on Friday -- their second straight loss at the end of the round-robin -- but the Bulls' massive win, by 13 tries to nil, cost the defending champions home advantage.
The Bulls' 89-point margin was the largest in the competition's history, eclipsing the Crusaders' 96-19, 77-point win over the New South Wales Waratahs in 2002.
PHOTO: AP
The Sharks became the first South African team to top the Super 12 or Super 14 standings at the end of a regular season and it is the first time South Africa has hosted both semis.
The Sharks were also the last South African team to host a semi-final, beating the Cats 30-12 in 2001 before losing to the ACT Brumbies in the final at Canberra.
Five of seven matches in the final round had implications for the playoffs and it was the last, involving the Bulls, that had the decisive say on pairings and venues.
First, the Crusaders scored an 80th-minute try to take a bonus point from their 30-24 loss to the Chiefs, which left them in No. 1 but vulnerable to other results.
The Chiefs' win, their fifth in succession, placed them temporarily fourth but also at the mercy of other matches.
The Blues beat the Force 33-6 in Perth to clinch their top four place and to extinguish the Force's dim hopes of a semi-finals appearance in their second Super 14 season.
The ACT Brumbies beat the Otago Highlanders 29-10, getting a bonus point with a last-minute try on Saturday to make their claim for the semis, pushing the Chiefs out of contention and taking over fourth place.
They were also relying on other results and when the Sharks and Bulls both won, they fell back to fifth place, two points adrift of the top four.
Ironically, Queensland scored first against the Bulls when Clinton Schifcofske landed a second-minute penalty. The Bulls piled on 30 points in the next 30 minutes.
Bryan Habana, Wikus van Heerden, Derick Kuun and Pierre Spies all finished with two tries while Derick Hougaard kicked 11 conversions and a penalty for 25 points.
Several matches in the final round had emotional significance. The clash between the Brumbies and Highlanders saw the final Super 14 appearances of George Gregan, Stephen Larkham and Jeremy Paul for the Brumbies; Anton Oliver, Clark Dermody and Carl Hayman for the Highlanders.
The Waratahs beat the Hurricanes 38-14 in Wellington, dampening celebrations of the final appearance of former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga, who is retiring after 122 appearances. Umaga played in the first-ever Super 12 match between the Hurricanes and Blues in Palmerston North in 1996.
"I was there at the start. We started with a loss and I'm going out on a loss so I guess not much has changed," he said.
The Waratahs' win briefly lifted them above the 13th place they have occupied for most of the season but they dropped backing into that spot when the Cheetahs beat the Lions 16-10 later on Saturday.
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