The Golden Lions will be playing in the main game of the Coca-Cola Craven Week for the first time since 1989.
It was announced at the end of the fourth day of play in Bloemfontein that they will meet Eastern Province in the week's prestigious concluding fixtures on Saturday. EP were also their opponents in 1989, and they won that encounter 18-9.
The Blue Bulls made amends for their poor second-half performance against KwaZulu-Natal on the first day by keeping the pressure on for the entire game against Western Province on Thursday, taking their 22-10 half time lead on to a 42-22 win in the end.
The Bulls forwards laid the foundation for the win. They dominated the scrums, held their own in the lineouts, and their loose forwards, with Pieter Meyer outstanding, had the upper hand in the loose phases.
Western Province have some classy backs none better than flyhalf Andre Smith, but they did not see enough of the ball in the second half to secure the win.
Blue Bulls centre Stefan Watermeyer was outstanding. He was more than a handful for the defence, scored an excellent individual try and his goalkicking was excellent.
In the end he slotted three penalties and three conversions. Ockert Kruger, Braam Kruger, Reinardt Kruger and Pieter Kruger scored the other tries for the Bulls and Divan Kotze also slotted a conversion.
Bernard Smit, Sean Mkiva, Gareth Groupes and JC Kritzinger dotted down for Province, with Smith adding one conversion.
The win earned the Bulls a slot in the second last game on Saturday, against SWD.
Eastern Province clinched their spot in the final by beating KwaZulu-Natal 31-12 on Thursday. It was a game between two sides that like to run the ball, which made for an attractive spectacle. The defences were tight, however, and in the end it was an interception try and a successfully chased cross-kick that led to EP's decisive tries.
Jaco Swanepoel scored in injury time, which made the result look more comfortable that it actually was.
Swanepoel scored an earlier try, with Albert Trytsman also dotting down twice. Shaun Davids was in good form with the boot. He added a penalty and four conversions.
Preston Mommsen dropped a goal for KwaZulu-Natal and Christopher Mickelwood added three penalties.
In the opening game of the day the Griffons beat Limpopo 25-11, while the Pumas were too strong for the visitors from Namibia, winning 33-10 in the second encounter.
South Western Districts recorded their second win of the week, a 34-11 win over Border.
Saturday's matches
Grey A: 8.30am Leopards vs Free State, 9.45am Pumas vs Griquas, 11am KwaZulu-Natal vs Western Province, 12.15pm Blue Bulls vs SWD, 1.30pm Lions vs E Province.
Grey B: 9am Border CD vs Limpopo, 10.15am Border vs Falcons.
Grey C: 9am Namibia vs Zimbabwe, 10.15am Griffons vs Boland.