URC 2025/26 · Quarter-Final
Bulls
Munster
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Championship Standings
This is the tightest quarter-final on the board — the Bulls finished 4th on 59 points, Munster 5th on 55, just four points and one place apart. The Bulls earned the home tie on the back of a 12–6 record and a +160 points difference; Munster scraped into the top eight on the final weekend, their 11–7 record flattered by a meagre +20 differential. Seeding hands the Bulls home advantage at altitude — in a knockout, that is worth far more than four log points.
| Pos | Team | P | W | L | PD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Glasgow Warriors | 18 | 13 | 5 | +141 | 65 |
| 2 |  Leinster | 18 | 12 | 6 | +145 | 63 |
| 3 |  Stormers | 18 | 12 | 5 | +160 | 60 |
| 4 | Bulls | 18 | 12 | 6 | +160 | 59 |
| 5 | Munster | 18 | 11 | 7 | +20 | 55 |
| 6 |  Cardiff | 18 | 11 | 7 | −19 | 55 |
| 7 |  Lions | 18 | 10 | 7 | +59 | 54 |
| 8 |  Connacht | 18 | 10 | 8 | +47 | 54 |
| 9 |  Ulster | 18 | 9 | 8 | +74 | 52 |
| 10 |  Sharks | 18 | 8 | 9 | +39 | 46 |
| 11 |  Ospreys | 18 | 7 | 9 | −78 | 39 |
| 12 |  Edinburgh | 18 | 7 | 11 | −77 | 38 |
| 13 |  Benetton | 18 | 6 | 10 | −166 | 33 |
| 14 |  Scarlets | 18 | 4 | 12 | −99 | 28 |
| 15 |  Dragons | 18 | 3 | 11 | −131 | 28 |
| 16 |  Zebre Parma | 18 | 2 | 16 | −275 | 15 |
Bulls
W5The Bulls roll into the playoffs on a six-match URC winning streak — the last five reading W5 with an average winning margin of 21 points. The 45–19 and 54–19 home demolitions of Benetton and Zebre were routine, but the 23–21 escape at Scarlets and the 47–7 away rout of the Dragons show a side that travels and grinds equally well. Johan Ackermann has even admitted they have been “sleepwalking” through stretches and must sharpen up — which, on this run, is an ominous thought for Munster.
Munster
W3, L2Munster limped over the line, qualifying for the top eight only on the final weekend with a nervy 24–17 home win over the Lions. The hot-and-cold pattern is the worry — a 41–14 dismantling of Ulster and a 45–15 away win at Benetton sit beside the 26–7 collapse at Connacht and that grim 45–0 shutout at the Sharks in Durban. A points-for-and-against ledger of 117–117 across the last five tells the story: this is a team that flatters and frustrates in equal measure, and now they cross hemispheres to play at altitude.
Head-to-Head Record
3 – 0 – 2
Bulls wins · Draws · Munster wins (5 URC meetings)
Bulls (3)The Bulls lead the URC head-to-head 3–2, and at Loftus specifically it is 2–1 in their favour — wins in March 2022 (29–24) and March 2026 (34–31), with Munster's lone Pretoria success the 27–22 result in April 2024. But the recent meetings have been brutally tight: the March 2026 league game was decided by three points despite Munster outscoring the Bulls five tries to four and banking two bonus points. Munster have proven, repeatedly, that they can live with the Bulls at altitude.
Recent Results
| Date | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | URC | Bulls 34–31 Munster |
| Apr 2025 | URC | Munster 13–16 Bulls |
| Apr 2024 | URC | Bulls 22–27 Munster |
| Oct 2022 | URC | Munster 31–17 Bulls |
| Mar 2022 | URC | Bulls 29–24 Munster |
Average score in the last 6 meetings: Bulls 24 – Munster 25 across five URC meetings. The aggregate actually favours Munster by a point — the closest of margins between two sides who genuinely cannot be separated on talent, only on venue.
Extended Form
Bulls9W, 3L (last 12 URC)
Wins: Benetton (45–19), Zebre (54–19), Scarlets (23–21 away), Dragons (47–7 away), Munster (34–31), Cardiff (40–7), Sharks (41–12), Lions (52–17 away), Leinster (39–31). Losses: Stormers (19–32), Stormers (8–13 away), Lions (33–43).
The Bulls have won nine of their last ten URC games, six in a row heading into the playoffs. Loftus has been a fortress — the 39–31 dismantling of Leinster, the 41–12 of the Sharks and the 40–7 of Cardiff all came at altitude, where the Springbok-loaded pack and Pollard's game management strangle visiting sides in the final quarter. Their only domestic blemishes have been the two Stormers derbies.
Munster6W, 4L (last 10 URC)
Wins: Lions (24–17), Ulster (41–14), Benetton (45–15 away), Cardiff (23–20), Edinburgh (20–19), Connacht (17–15). Losses: Connacht (7–26 away), Sharks (0–45 away), Bulls (31–34 away), Glasgow (22–31 away).
Munster's away record on the road this season is the red flag. Beyond a 45–15 win at a hapless Benetton, their travels have produced the 0–45 humiliation at the Sharks, the 7–26 collapse at Connacht, the three-point loss at the Bulls and a 22–31 defeat at Glasgow. They have not won a meaningful away game against a top-half side all year — and this is the longest, most hostile trip of the lot.
Bulls XV
Johan Ackermann names a full-strength, Springbok-laden side. Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw form an all-Test front row, with Ruan Nortje — making his 150th appearance for the Bulls in what could be his final home game before a move to Japan — partnering Cobus Wiese in the second row. Handré Pollard, a double World Cup winner and arguably the best knockout fly-half in the game, steers from 10 behind the in-form Embrose Papier. Captain Marcell Coetzee leads from the bench rotation, with Willie le Roux at fullback. The replacements reflect the Bulls' recent matchday-23 group; expect the heavy-artillery split Ackermann favours to “break the game open” late.
Munster XV
Munster are without a raft of frontline names: Jack Crowley (neural leg injury), Tadhg Beirne, Jean Kleyn, Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Lee Barron, Roman Salanoa, Oli Jager and Michael Milne are all unavailable. JJ Hanrahan deputises at fly-half, with Craig Casey captaining from scrum-half. Alex Nankivell is the only change from the Lions win, slotting in at outside centre, while Fineen Wycherley returns from injury to the bench ahead of his own 150th provincial cap. The pack — Loughman, Scannell, Ala'alatoa, Ahern, O'Connell, O'Donoghue, Hodnett and Gleeson — is competitive, but the loss of Crowley's game management at altitude is a significant blow.
Key Matchups
The decisive battleground is the fly-half channel. Pollard — a double World Cup winner with ice in his veins in knockout rugby — against JJ Hanrahan, a capable deputy thrust into the biggest game of Munster's season because Crowley's leg failed to recover. At 1,300m, where the ball flies and lungs burn, that gap in game management and goal-kicking under fatigue could be worth a dozen points. Munster's one route in is the backrow, where Hodnett, Gleeson and O'Donoghue are genuinely abrasive at the breakdown, and Casey's tempo can drag the Bulls into a track meet. But the Springbok front five should win the collisions and the set piece, and once the Bulls' bench arrives the altitude does the rest.
Match Forecast
The Bulls should win this, and probably comfortably. Six straight URC wins, a full-strength Springbok pack, Pollard pulling the strings, and a Loftus altitude factor that has strangled far better visitors than this depleted Munster outfit — the scorecard nets out at +17 in the Bulls' favour. Munster arrive missing Crowley, Beirne, Kleyn and Nash, having limped into the playoffs on the final weekend with a points-for-and-against ledger of 117–117 over their last five. The set-piece and fly-half mismatches alone should be decisive once the game opens up in the final quarter.
The caveat is real, though: these two genuinely cannot be separated on the head-to-head, and the March league meeting here went the Bulls' way by just three points despite Munster scoring five tries. Munster won at Loftus in 2024 and they relish exactly this kind of backs-to-the-wall knockout. If Casey gets quick ball and the visiting backrow turns it into a breakdown war, the margin tightens fast. But knockout rugby at altitude rewards the side with the better pack, the better 10 and the home crowd — and that is emphatically the Bulls.
Bulls to reach the semis on home soil — Munster will throw punches, but a depleted touring side has no answer to Pollard and a Springbok pack at altitude.