- Springbok prop Ox Nche was overjoyed by having two South African teams in the United Rugby Championship final.
- The Stormers and the Bulls will be contesting the final at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
- The Sharks, whom Nche plays for, were beaten at the quarter-final stage by the Bulls through a Chris Smith drop goal.
Springbok and Sharks prop Retshegofaditswe 'Ox' Nche said he loved the fact there were two South African teams contesting the United Rugby Championship (URC) final.
The Stormers and the Bulls will be facing each other at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday in what has been an unexpected turnaround from the South African sides.
None of the South African teams, including the Sharks, looked like playoff material after a tough start to the tournament.
However, they finished strong, based on an excellent home run, from where the Sharks and the Bulls clashed in the second quarter-final that the Bulls narrowly won a fortnight ago.
"I would have loved to have been there, but at the end of the day, it is very pleasant that they're in the final," Nche said. "We've got teams there. We could have had all four teams in the semi-finals, or even two, but we've got teams there and that makes me very happy.
"I really love it."
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The other players who haven't seen their teams advance further in the playoffs are in the Springbok camp where they're getting ready for the Wales Test series that starts on 2 July at Loftus Versfeld.
Nche said they’ve been preparing hard and the URC group will step straight into the sessions once they complete their combat.
"We've been preparing for Wales, getting our conditioning right while also sorting out our game model," Nche said.
"All the guys in the squad have been in the alignment camps and I guess now it's just putting things into practice."
Nche isn't in the business of underestimating Wales, even though the four Welsh regions didn't have the best of URC campaigns.
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None of the Welsh sides made the quarterfinals while the Ospreys qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup by virtue of being the best side in the Welsh conference.
"When they come together, they always perform pretty well, which is what you're looking for," Nche said.
"That helps to raise the standards when we do eventually play."