Brenden Nel - SuperSport

Pretoria - Saturday’s massive showdown between the Sharks and Bulls at Loftus Versfeld is guaranteed a capacity crowd as the sold out signs went up at Loftus Versfeld on Monday night.

The Bulls will be looking for their seventh straight win as they continue their late surge to try and defend their Vodacom Super Rugby title, and need a victory to ensure they make the six man Super Rugby playoffs next week.

After their nail-biting victory over the Stormers, who effectively took the conference title through their losing bonus point on Saturday, indications were that this weekend’s game would be a capacity crowd when the Bulls stopped taking telephonic and credit card bookings on their hotline at about lunchtime to give fans in the queue outside the ticket office a better chance of obtaining the tickets.

But the sold out signs were up on Monday night with tickets to the game now a hot commodity as the Sharks desperately need a victory to ensure they make the playoffs as well. The Waratahs could dump one of the two sides out of the playoffs if they beat the Brumbies, but if the Sydney side lose, both South African teams will head into the fixture knowing they are assured of their place in the playoffs.

“We are expecting a full house on Saturday and are very pleased with the support showed towards the Bulls and their final push for the playoff stages of the competition,” Blue Bulls Company chief executive officer Barend van Graan said.

The Bulls lie fifth in the competition standings, and after five early losses, have surged back with six straight wins. The Sharks are sixth and Waratahs seventh respectively.