After finishing the Super Rugby overall conference in second and sixth respectively, the Bulls and Cheetahs had their finals run halted by South African born coach Jake White and his ACT Brumbies.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the South African conference, the Kings will be replaced by the Johannesburg Lions in the 2014 Super Rugby season.
The Bulls finished the regular season with 12 wins and only four defeats, equal to the Chiefs, who pipped them to top spot on bonus points.
The Pretoria club were awarded a first round bye after finishing in second place.
The Stormers and Sharks narrowly missed out on making the finals, finishing in seventh and eighth and being beaten to sixth place by fellow South African club the Cheetahs.
The Cheetahs had to travel to Canberra to play the third placed Brumbies in the qualifying finals. And they were so close to progressing through to the next round, only failing through a missed conversion in the dying seconds of the match.
With their 15-13 victory, the Brumbies progressed through to the semi-final against the Bulls in Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria.
But again it was the Brumbies’ South African coach, Jake White, who had the game plan to defeat their South African opposition.
Jake White became a national hero in South Africa after coaching his nation to the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Since taking control in Canberra last year, White has helped the Brumbies defeat South African opponents six times in 10 matches, with four wins from six in 2013.
Meanwhile, the Kings had a very disappointing Super Rugby season, with only three wins in 16 matches, they finished dead last.
With six South African Rugby teams in a five-team conference the bottom team every year plays a two match play-off with the remaining team.
The Lions have been promoted for the 2014 season after their 26-19 win and 18-23 loss to the Kings.
Since the first Super Rugby season in 2011, the Lions have finished one season in 14th and one in 15th, before being replaced by the Kings. After finishing last the Kings have been replaced by the Lions.
But will the fifth South African team have better success next season? It remains to be seen if a team can survive a full season of Super Rugby without playing regularly for the previous season.
And if they cannot, should the South African Rugby Union continue with a six team system in a five team conference?
Fans may not expect much from the Lions in 2014 Super Rugby, but the remaining four teams will hope to improve upon this season.
If the Bulls are to progress past the semi-finals in 2014 they will need to rebilled their squad, with eight players recently announcing their departure from the club.
Influential fly-half Morne Steyn, the 2013 season’s highest points scorer, will play for French club Stade Francais next year.
Steyn, in my opinion, was the best South African player of the season. His stats say it all: 248 points in 17 games. But Steyn has also been a great playmaker during his time in Pretoria.
Since his first Super Rugby season in 2005, Steyn has scored 1,449 points in 123 games. He will leave the Bulls this year with a winning percentage of 72%.
Following Steyn out of Pretoria are forwards Chilliboy Ralepelle, Juandré Kruger, Dewald and Jacques Potgieter, as well as fullback Zane Kirchner, centre Wynand Olivier and scrum-half Jano Vermaak.
It is the key playmaking roles of fullback, scrum-half and fly-half that will need to be filled by Bulls coach Frans Ludeke next season.
Ludeke coached his side to back to back Super Rugby wins in 2009 and 10 with Steyn at fly-half and Kirchner at fullback.
The coach now has the responsibility of rebuilding his side ahead of next season. Cheetahs scrum-half Piet Van Zyl has already been signed to replace Vermaak in Pretoria.
Lideke has shown himself as a highly capable coach, and the Bulls will likely remain a highly feared team in the 2014 Super Rugby.
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