The Bulls kept their title hopes alive with a tense 19-16 win over the Stormers in an all-South African Super Rugby match at Newlands on Saturday.

The defending champions climbed into the top-six play-off positions after dominating most of the game, despite a late assault by the Stormers, who scored a 79th-minute try and forced the visitors to defend for three minutes after the final hooter before their attack broke down near the Bulls line.

The Stormers stay in second place and will earn a home semi-final if they beat the Central Cheetahs in their final league match in Bloemfontein next weekend.

The Bulls have a challenging final game against the Sharks in Pretoria, with the teams on the same number of points in fifth and sixth place.

"Everything is still in our own hands," said Bulls captain and lock Victor Matfield. "The Sharks are going to be very tough but we've still got a chance."

The Bulls led 6-3 at half-time, with two penalty goals by five-eighth Morne Steyn against one by fellow pivot Kurt Coleman, but could have been further ahead after dominating possession and forcing the home team into errors.

The Pretoria side successfully disrupted Stormers' lineout, normally one of the home team's strengths, and the Cape outfit were unable to secure the ball from their first three throw-ins.

The Bulls also looked stronger in the scrums and with the Stormers seldom able to gain clean ball, they made numerous handling errors.

Inexperienced Coleman was replaced by Dewaldt Duvenage soon after missing a straightforward penalty early in the second half and Duvenage almost immediately put the Stormers level before a Steyn penalty gave the Bulls the lead again.

Another botched Stormers line-out in the 65th minute enabled Bulls scrum-half Francois Hougaard to collect a throw which went over the forwards and he sprinted 35 metres to score near the posts.

Duvenage and Steyn swapped more penalties before Stormers lock AndriesBekker scored a minute from the end to secure a bonus point for his team.

Stormers captain and flank Schalk Burger twice turned down kickable penalties, which would also have earned the bonus point, before Bekker went over.

"We were going for the win," explained Burger. "In the last 10 minutes we probably played how we should have played for the whole 80."

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