The Springboks-laden Sharks claimed a big win on Saturday by beating the reigning champions, the Glasgow Warriors, 28-24 at Kings Park in Durban.

The Sharks missed out on a bonus point as they managed to score just three tries against the Glasgow team which was also loaded with Scottish internationals, however, following their defeat to Connacht and Benetton during their recent tour to Europe, the four points are worth gold.

The Springbok coach, Siya Kolisi, as well as Aphelele Fassi and Grant Williams all dotted down, while the flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse slotted two conversions and three penalties.

George Horn scored a brace of tries for the Warriors, while Rory Darge and Johnny Matthews also crossed the whitewash to ensure the visitors earned two bonus points from the defeat. Horn and Adam Hastings managed to convert one try each.

Meanwhile, the Stormers claimed a first-ever win over the Irish giants, Munster, with a 34-19 victory at the Cape Town Stadium in Green Point.

The versatile Springbok Damian Willemse produced another masterclass display at flyhalf for the Stormers and he signalled his intentions of boarding the flight with the World Champions for their End-of-Year tour to Europe next month.

Willemse landed four conversions, a penalty, and a drop goal as he contributed with 14 points for the Stormers during their bonus point victory. In addition, the Springbok Sevens stalwart, Ruhan Nel scored a brace of tries for the team from the Mother City, while Suleiman Hartzenberg and the Bloemfontein born-and-bred Marcel Theunissen each scored a try.

Tom Farrell, Eoghan Clarke, and Gavin Coombes all managed to score tries for the team from Ireland which beat the Stormers in Cape Town during the 2022/23 URC final. Jack Crowley converted two of the Munster tries.

Meanwhile, on Saturday in a wet and rainy Parma, Italy, the Lions moved up to second on the log with a hard-fought 10-9 win over Zebre to remain the only unbeaten South African team in the URC. On Friday night a 14-man Bulls suffered their first defeat with a 23-22 defeat to Scarlets in Llanelli, Wales.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek dg