While there may be two finals in Europe this weekend, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus will almost certainly be watching another match more closely.
Friday night's French Top 14 semifinal between Montpellier and Lyon (21:40, CAT) features no less than 10 South African players and watching it will likely be Erasmus final act before contacting his superiors to get the necessary approval on his first squad in the Springbok hot seat.
In actual fact, Erasmus' gaze will probably be on the fortunes of Montpellier rather than Lyon. While Lyon have picked Hendrik Roodt to start at lock with compatriots Francois van der Merwe and Etienne Oosthuizen to come off the bench at Parc Olympique Lyonnais, none of them have seriously troubled the Springbok selectors before.
Of course that's not the case in the Montpellier line-up, where Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Ruan Pienaar and Francois Steyn are of the 'been there, done that, earned the green-and-gold shirt' variety. They will all start, and so will locks Nico Janse van Rensburg and Paul Willemse, while little-known utility back Henry Immelman has been named as a reserve.
Considering the shortfalls in his squad, Bismarck du Plessis and Francois Steyn will be of particular interest to Erasmus. In Du Plessis' case it is because first-choice hooker Malcolm Marx is out with an injury, last year's second-choice Bongi Mbonambi has only just returned from injury and it's unclear whether Adriaan Strauss (the much vilified 2016 Springbok captain) is willing to reverse his international retirement.
More than that, 'Bissie' is the player Marx has modelled his all-action game on, and by all accounts the 34-year-old is playing as well as he ever did during his 79-cap career which was stalled by his (and his brother's) move to Montpellier in 2016.
Steyn on the other hand would be a fantastic option for Erasmus because of his versatility, being able to cover either centre position (he plays 13 on Friday rather than his favoured 12), flyhalf and fullback at a push.
Now 31, Steyn has had a topsy-turvy relationship with the Springbok set-up in recent years and might need lots of persuasion to fully commit himself to the whims of another national coach, even more so because he wouldn't be a shoe-in for a starting place. That said, the experience he has gained during his 56 caps in green-and-gold on top of his spells in France and Japan (host of next year's Rugby World Cup lest we forget) are almost as valuable as his ability to slot into different roles.
Apart from Friday night's French fixture, there are three further European clashes on Saturday which ordinarily would be on Erasmus's radar, but circumstances mean that none will likely have a bearing on his squad.
At 16:00 (CAT) Exeter Chiefs will meet Saracens at Twickenham in the English Premiership Final which will take place in-between two Super Rugby fixtures (Bulls vs. Brumbies, Stormers vs. Lions) which will hold Erasmus' focus -- primarily with the hope that no major injuries occur.
As it happens, Exeter haven't chosen either of their South Africans, namely outgoing hooker Shaun Malton and lock Wilhem van der Sluys, but Saracens have picked three of theirs. However, 27-year-old hooker Schalk Brits will be making his final appearance before retiring and Michael Rhodes is eyeing a future international career with the English rose on his right breast. That leaves Vincent Koch, who should already be on Erasmus' list.
With only nine caps to his name, Koch fell foul of SA Rugby's 30-cap foreign-based player rule when he moved to Saracens two years ago. Nonetheless, the 28-year-old tighthead prop's reputation has only been enhanced while in England and with no locally-based player having taken a firm grip of the number 3 jersey -- be it incumbent Wilco Louw, versatile Trevor Nyakane or the perennially-injured duo if Frans Malherbe and Coenie Oosthuizen). As such, his recall should be welcomed, even more so with the world-wise knowledge he will bring back from scrumming against the world's best in English and European club rugby.
A recall may well have been in the offing for Patrick Lambie too, but once again injury has befallen the flyhalf and he won't be in action for Racing 92 in the second Top 14 semifinal against Castres at 16:45 (CAT). The 27-year-old would have welcomed the opportunity to start a new Springbok era with a clean slate but this latest knee injury could just as easily be the end of his hopes of adding to the 56 caps he has to his name, not least because of Handre Pollard's form, Elton Jantjes remaining in the mix as an alternative and the emergence of Damian Willemse and Robert du Preez as next in lines.
Castres meanwhile, won't have any Springbok-eligible players on show for Erasmus, thanks to the suspension for hooker Jody Jenneker (he was red carded last week) and the non-selection of former Blitzbok Robert Ebersohn.
Erasmus is set to announce his squad at 19:00 (CAT), at exactly the same time the Leinster-Scarlets PRO14 final gets underway at Aviva Stadium in Dublin but the fact that only Werner Kruger and David Bulbring will be involved (from the bench) confirms that there won't be a conflict of interests.
Kruger (33) has four Test caps to his name but that came all the way back in 2011-12, and when the tighthead prop left the Bulls in 2016 for Scarlets his powers were already on the wane. Bulbring, meanwhile, may only be 25 and a former Junior Springbok (2009) but his own move to Wales was with the intention of qualifying to play for them and an acknowledgement that South Africa's lock stocks continue to be one of the healthier parts of the game in the country.