Defending champions Munster, Vodacom Bulls, Leinster and Glasgow Warriors have all progressed to the Vodacom United Rugby Championship Final Four.
Munster beat Ospreys at Thomond Park and will now host Glasgow, who were too strong for the DHL Stormers at Scotstoun.
In the other semi-final, the Bulls secured their spot after holding off a battling Benetton and welcome Leinster, who had the upper hand against Irish rivals Ulster, to Pretoria.
Both ties will take place on Saturday.
Here we take a closer look at the Final Eight action.
Munster 23-7 Ospreys
Jack Crowley kicked 13 points as Munster earned a home semi-final.
Niall Scannell’s maul try and a Crowley penalty gave Munster a 17-7 half-time lead after Simon Zebo and Ospreys’ Keelan Giles had swapped two slick early scores, Owen Williams converting the latter’s effort.
In front of an attendance of 14,072, two more Crowley place-kicks made it 10 league wins in a row for the reigning champions.
Graham Rowntree (Munster)
“We played cup rugby, taken points when we could, kicked well in the second half, greasy conditions, but it was just our composure, really good in that second half.
“We’ve got to win, it’s not always glamorous, again, this is knockout rugby.
“There are elements to a game we’ll always review. I’m delighted with us there, we got the job done.”
Toby Booth (Ospreys)
“My overriding feeling is of pride for the team.
“We can reflect on how we get better but right now a sense of pride and sadness actually because to say goodbye to some members of that group – Nicky Smith in particular – is an emotional moment for the team.
“We’ve given it our best but the best team won, let’s be honest about it.”
Vodacom Bulls 30-23 Benetton
The Bulls booked their place in the semi-finals with a hard-fought victory at Loftus Versfeld.
Beaten finalists in 2022, the Bulls scored after just 25 seconds through the first of two Kurt-Lee Arendse tries, with David Kriel also going over. Johan Goosen converted all three tries and also landed three penalties.
Benetton, in the play-offs for only the second time and first since 2019, stayed in the game throughout with tries from Onisi Ratave, Tomas Albornoz and Malakai Fekitoa, with Rhyno Smith adding one conversion and kicking two penalties, but the Bulls held on.
Jake White (Bulls)
“No-one thought Benetton could beat us and they nearly did.
“So we probably got no chance against Leinster and no chance against Munster, in everyone’s eyes.
“Probably two of the best clubs in the world. But that’s sometimes a nice place to be.”
Leinster 43-20 Ulster
Leinster ran in six tries as they brushed aside their Irish rivals at the Aviva Stadium.
James Lowe (2), Robbie Henshaw, Jordan Larmour, Josh van der Flier and Ross Molony all touched down for Leo Cullen’s side.
Ross Byrne converted four of the tries and kicked a penalty, with Sam Prendergast also landing a conversion.
David McCann, Stewart Moore and Michael Lowry crossed for second-half tries for the battling visitors, with John Cooney converting one and booting a penalty.
Leo Cullen (Leinster)
“There’s plenty of character in the group, that’s for certain.
“You don’t get into these knockout games by accident, so everyone is going full blooded at these games, so to still be going and have a sixth play-off game [this season, including Champions Cup] to look forward to is no easy feat.
“There’s lots of different dynamics, that’s the beauty of the competition. How you navigate your way through… we’d love to have a home semi-final but this is the challenge and the next adventure we have which is a trip to South Africa.”
Richie Murphy (Ulster)
“I thought we did a good job in the first 20 minutes, frustrated Leinster, got into a couple of areas and contests in their 22, but unfortunately we just couldn’t come away with the points we wanted.
“We were playing against a really good team but really proud of our lads, they left everything out there, the effort was huge.
“The lads are disappointed but I said to them they shouldn’t be. They played against a really good team and they made it very difficult for them.”
Glasgow Warriors 27-10 DHL Stormers
Tries from Sebastian Cancelliere, Henco Venter and Ross Thompson helped Glasgow book their place in the semi-finals.
George Horne converted all three tries after his two penalties separated the sides in the first half.
Ben Loader and Paul de Wet went over for the Stormers but Manie Libbok had a night to forget having missed all four efforts from the tee.
Franco Smith (Glasgow)
“Really proud. We’ve talked all week about an 80-minute performance, applying ourselves the whole game to the best of our ability. There was some really intense commitment from the players.
“The South African teams have added to the competition and they can bully you physically, which makes it hard.
“That was one of the big work-ons and the boys fronted up nicely. We smashed our windows of opportunity.”
John Dobson (Stormers)
“I’m disappointed but I am proud of the effort, especially in the first half.
“I’m disappointed because I thought with the wind in our favour at 13-10, we had enough in us to close it out. They were more effective into the wind than we were.
“It’s always a challenge. I think you can’t fault our physical effort or us staying in the fight. It doesn’t feel like a 27-10 game.”
>>>Story courtesy of https://www.unitedrugby.com/latest<<<
