The Sharks have created an opportunity to play themselves back into the SA Shield race in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship before a two-week break in the competition.

The Durbanites were the only South African side to register a victory in a disappointing round 13 of matches for the local URC teams but despite this, three of the four teams remain in the top four on the standings.

The coastal outfit leapt into the top eight thanks to a hard-fought 22-19 victory clash against Edinburgh, but the other teams all faltered on the road, with the Vodacom Bulls going down 37-28 against the Scarlets, the DHL Stormers suffering a 35-5 defeat against Ulster and the Lions losing 43-24 against Connacht.

HIGHLIGHTS: Sharks pip Edinburgh, Connacht maul Lions

The Sharks’ win saw them overtake Edinburgh as they moved from ninth to eighth place on the log, while the Stormers held onto second place, and the Bulls finished the round in fourth place.

The Lions, meanwhile, find themselves in 13th position on the table with five rounds of matches remaining before the playoffs.

In other results, Munster triumphed 40-30 at Benetton, Glasgow Warriors saw off the challenge of the Dragons (42-28), league leaders Leinster proved too good for Cardiff (38-14), while Ospreys edged Zebre 28-24.

Looking ahead to this weekend, the Sharks will host the Stormers at Kings Park on Saturday (2pm) in a rescheduled Round 1 encounter.

The next full round of URC matches is scheduled for three weeks’ time, when the Lions and Sharks clash at Ellis Park on 18 February (3pm) in the first of the weekend’s local derbies, before the Bulls host the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld (5:05pm).

HIGHLIGHTS: Bulls, Stormers stumble on URC return

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