It was a tough weekend for the South African teams in the United Rugby Championship on the weekend, but the Lions were sensational as they shocked the log-leading Leinster with a convincing win in Johannesburg.

On Friday night the Sharks were beaten 21-10 by the Glasgow Warriors in Scotland, which broke their recent winning streak.

On Saturday at Ellis Park the Lions kept their top-eight chances alive as they stunned the Irish team Leinster with a resounding 44-12 win at Ellis Park.

The energetic flanker, Emmanuel Tshituka scored a brace of tries for the home team while Morné van den Berg, Marius Louw, Quan Horn and Francke Horn all dotted down as well, while Sanale Nohamba landed two conversions and two penalties, while Jordan Hendrikse converted two tries.

Leinster's points came via a brace of tries by Ciaran Frawley and a Harry Byrne conversion.

Down the road at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria the Bulls flyhalf, Johan Goosen, earned a red card as the Bulls were beaten 27-22 by the defending champions, Munster.

Goosen was shown a straight red card for a clumsy head-on-head contact with the Munster scrumhalf, Craig Casey. The ball popped lose after the high tackle and the Springbok Canan Moodie managed to score, however, the try didn't stand because of the tackle. At that stage the Bulls were leading the match 22-17.

The Bulls points came via tries by the captain Elrigh Louw, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Johan Grobbelaar, while Goosen converted twice and landed a penalty.

Munster saw Shane Daly, RG Snyman, Josh Hodnett and Conor Murray all scoring tries, with Jack Crowley converting three tries and sending a penalty through the uprights.

In Cape Town the Ospreys from Wales, who featured three Toyota Cheetahs players in Victor Sekekete, Jeandré Rudolph and Evardi Boshoff beat the Stormers 37-21.

This defeat dented the Stormers hopes of securing a home playoff for a third year in a row.

Luke Morgan scored twice for the Ospreys while Sam Parry and Harry Deans also crossed the whitewash as the Swansea-based team secured a bonus point.

Dan du Plessis and Evan Roos each scored a try for the Stormers, while they were also awarded a penalty try.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport