Losing will not be an option when the four Vodacom Cup quarter-finals take place across the country this weekend. Durban, Cape Town, Nelspruit and Pretoria will host the top eight teams on Friday and Saturday in a weekend where second best will no longer be good enough.

Exactly the same eight teams that played in the quarter-finals in 2012, are back again this year. Even their positions from last year are almost the same. The Vodacom Blue Bulls “replace” GWK Griquas as hosts, while the Sharks XV, Steval Pumas and DHL Western Province will all host a quarter-final for the second successive year.

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Seven of the quarter-finalists this year, also made the playoffs two years ago – when the EP Kings missed out while the Toyota Free State XV were in. This means the Sharks XV, Steval Pumas, DHL Western Province, Vodacom Blue Bulls, ICBC Pampas XV, GWK Griquas and MTN Golden Lions will all be playing in their third consecutive Vodacom Cup quarter-final.

The first match of the weekend is scheduled for Kings Park 2 in Durban, when the Sharks XV, who finished top in the South Section, host the MTN Golden Lions on Friday afternoon.

The team from Johannesburg sneaked into the quarter-finals after winning their last three league matches. They were reeling with one win from their first four encounters, but managed to get things back on track when it mattered most.

The Sharks XV, on the other hand, lost only once during the league phase of the competition – against the EP Kings in the penultimate round in Port Elizabeth.

Both these sides lost in the Vodacom Cup quarter-finals last year. The KwaZulu-Natalians are going into this match as favourites, but they will have taken cognisance of the MTN Golden Lions’ recent form.

On Friday evening, the ICBC Pampas XV face the tough task of travelling to Nelspruit to take on the North Section winners, the Steval Pumas, at the Mbombela Stadium.

Like the Sharks XV, the team from Mpumalanga also lost just once this season, when they went down to a desperate MTN Golden Lions side in Nelspruit a few weeks ago. The Steval Pumas would like to emulate 2012, when they reached the semi-finals, while the Argentineans will be aiming for a repeat of 2011, when they won the Vodacom Cup.

The third quarter-final is a replay of last year’s final, when DHL Western Province beat GWK Griquas at the death in Kimberley. This time, however, the Capetonians will host the match against the four-time champions.

DHL Western Province finished second in the South Section, while GWK Griquas had an average season by their standards and lost three of their seven group matches. It’s the first time since 2010 that the team from the Northern Cape is not hosting a quarter-final.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls will host the final playoff this weekend, at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria against the EP Kings in a match that serves as a curtain raiser to the Vodacom Bulls’ match against the Hurricanes.

The men from Pretoria are on a roll, having amassed 199 points (29 tries) and only conceded 10 in their last two league matches.

However, the EP Kings will not be easy-beats in Pretoria – they proved that in Durban a fortnight ago when they beat the Sharks XV by 27-23 in a tough contest.

Quarter-final fixtures:

Friday 3 May:

Sharks XV v MTN Golden Lions
Kick-off: 15:00
Venue: Kings Park, Durban
Referee: Ben Crouse
Assistant referees: Matt Kemp, Reuben Rossouw

Steval Pumas v ICBC Pampas XV
Kick-off: 19:10 (live on SS1, SS4 and CSN)
Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Referee: Jaco van Heerden
Assistant referees: Gerrie de Bruin, Stefan Breytenbach
Television match official: Gerrie Coetzee

Saturday 4 May:

DHL Western Province v GWK Griquas
Kick-off: 15:30
Venue: DHL Newlands, Cape Town
Referee: Sindile Mayende
Assistant referees: Quinton Immelman, Cwengile Jadezweni

Vodacom Blue Bulls v EP Kings
Kick-off: 16:30 (delayed on SS1 and SSHD1 from 21:30)
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Referee: Tiaan Jonker
Assistant referees: Lusanda Jam, Cobus Wessels
Television match official: Johan Greeff