The Lions and the Kings are vying for a place in a tournament that may not exist in a few years time.
Western Province rugby players Marcel Brache and Chris Heiberg have signed with Australia’s Western Force to play in the 2014 Super Rugby season.
A last-minute try by Brumbies centre Tevita Kuridrani and a number of dubious decisions saw the Bulls go down 26-23 in their Super Rugby semifinal.
Cheetahs flyhalf Riaan Smit hit the upright with a last minute conversion attempt to hand ACT Brumbies a 15-13 victory on Sunday.
The Stormers denied the Bulls top spot in the Super Rugby table with a 30-13 win at Newlands on Saturday, the last match of the regular season.
The eighth-placed Blues, who take on the finless Sharks next, are a threat. But they need three more wins to an impact in Super Rugby.
Deon Fourie will lead the Stormers in their Vodacom Super Rugby encounter against the Cheetahs at Newlands.
Bryan Habana became the sixth man to score 50 Test tries as South Africa romped to a 56-23 victory over Samoa at Loftus on Saturday.
The All Blacks have celebrated their 500th Test with a thumping 30-0 win over old rivals France which secured victory in their three-game series.
Rugby minnows Japan have claimed a first win over Six Nations champions Wales after a clinical display against an inexperienced Welsh side.
The Springboks have shrugged off a poor start to brush aside Italy with a 44-10 victory in their first match of the international season.
The British and Irish Lions have survived an onslaught by the Queensland Reds to grind out a 22-12 victory to maintain an unbeaten start.
A second-string Wales team twice came from behind to beat Asian champions Japan 22-18 in the opener of their two-Test series.
The Bulls cemented their local dominance in Super Rugby when they beat their closest rivals the Cheetahs 30-23 during the weekend’s 16th round.
There comes a time when promise has to be turned into achievement. That moment has arrived for Naka Drotske’s Cheetahs.
Morne Steyn booted South African conference leaders the Bulls to a narrow 18-16 win over the Sharks in an attritional game in Durban on Saturday.
The Bulls are on the cusp of securing a home semifinal in Vodacom Super Rugby after beating the Highlanders 35-18.
The Stormers have made seven changes to their team for the final match of their Super Rugby overseas tour against the Rebels in Melbourne, Australia.
The Cheetahs lost their way, skipper Adriaan Strauss admitted, after their 39-34 defeat to the Hurricanes in Bloemfontein.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee was pleased by the opportunities his side created in their 18-17 loss against the Blues, despite his criticism.
All Black centre Conrad Smith was knocked out and taken to hospital as the Bulls blew past New Zealand’s Hurricanes 48-14 at Loftus on Saturday.
Colin Slade has scored a second-half try among 15 points as the Highlanders broke an eight-match losing run with a 25-22 win over the Sharks.
The Bulls’ coach believes the scoreline did not reflect the effort that was required from his charges to beat the Waratahs in their Super Rugby match.
But the attrition of team members like JP Pietersen for more lucrative shores can have a silver lining.
The Orania Rebels, a rugby team from the unofficial Afrikaner state in the Northern Cape, is not a whites only team but an Afrikaners only team.
The Cheetahs have stunned the Sharks and moved to the top of the South African Vodacom Super Rugby Conference with a 12-6 victory in Durban.
The Brumbies have survived intense pressure to cling on to a 19-19 Super 15 draw with the Queensland Reds and stay top of the Australian conference.
A former Blue Bulls rugby player accused of killing four people had an apparent seizure when he asked to take part in an identity parade.
Blood was found in the bathroom of former Blue Bulls player Phindile Joseph Ntshongwana, a crime scene expert has told the KwaZulu-Natal High Court.
A second-half burst gave the Wellington Hurricanes maximum points over the New South Wales Waratahs with a 41-29 victory in their Super 15 clash.
The confidence engendered by winning on a regular basis has obviously had a profound effect on the entire Cheetahs team.
Injury-hit Canterbury Crusaders have been bidding for a fourth straight win over 2012 Super 15 finalists the Sharks.