After another weekend of thrilling SA derbies in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, the DHL Stormers and Lions laid down a marker before a two-week hiatus in the competition.
The Stormers all but secured the SA Shield with a tense victory in Cape Town on Saturday, while the Lions kept their URC playoff hopes alive in Pretoria with a second win on the trot, but in both instances the victorious teams had to withstand serious comebacks from their opponents.
The defending champions showed a lot of character to beat a resurgent Sharks 29-23 at Cape Town Stadium as the visitors fought back from 20 points down to come close in the end. With this victory, the Stormers, who finished the match with only 13 players on the field, ensured a clean sweep in their six local derbies this season.
At Loftus Versfeld, the Vodacom Bulls were also forced to claw their way back into the game from 20-3 down to take the lead on the hour, but two penalty goals in the final 15 minutes by Sanele Nohamba – who recorded 24 points in the game – saw the Lions home by 29-25.
HIGHLIGHTS: Stormers clinch SA shield, Lions upset Bulls
With three rounds to go, the Stormers are in second place on the log with 59 points, sandwiched between leaders Leinster on 71 and Ulster in third on 54.
Glasgow Warriors are in fourth on 49, Munster in fifth (47), the Bulls in sixth courtesy of their two bonus points in Pretoria (43), the Sharks in seventh (41) and Connacht complete the top-eight on 39 points, with the Lions six points adrift in 11th spot on the log.
In other results, Glasgow Warriors smashed Zebre 50-8, Benetton and Connacht edged Ospreys and Dragons, respectively (21-20 and 22-20), Leinster were too strong for Edinburgh (47-27), Ulster got the better of Cardiff (42-20), while Munster secured a nail-biting 49-42 win over Scarlets.
When the action returns on the weekend of 24 March, all four SA teams will be on tour – the Stormers take on Leinster in Dublin (9:35pm), before less than 24 hours later, the Lions face Benetton in Treviso (3pm), the Sharks are in Llanelli to play the Scarlets (7pm), and the Bulls have a big game against Ulster in Belfast (9:35pm).
Photo: @Springboks/Twitter