There were big wins for the DHL Stormers, Vodacom Bulls and Lions, but the Sharks suffered an embarrassing home defeat in Round 8 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

On Friday, the Stormers kicked off the restart of the URC, after a three-week hiatus, with a comfortable 36-19 victory against Scarlets in Cape Town, before 24 hours later, the Bulls scored a convincing 43-26 win over the Ospreys at Loftus Versfeld.

Then, the Lions beat the Dragons 33-25 in Johannesburg to secure a first win of the season at home on Sunday, but it was a night to forget for the Sharks as Cardiff delivered a masterclass in wet-weather rugby to blank the Durbanites 35-0 at Kings Park.

The Bulls and Stormers collected five log points apiece and are now in hot pursuit of two Irish teams, unbeaten Leinster and second-placed Ulster, at the top of the standings.

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With the halfway mark of the regular season moving into view, Leinster lead the race with 38 points from eight games, followed by Ulster (30 points from seven games), the Bulls (29 from eight) and the Stormers (29 from seven).

The Lions occupy seventh position with 19 points from seven games, but the Sharks have dropped to 12th with 15 points from their six games.

In other weekend results, Leinster hammered Glasgow Warriors 40-5, Ulster were too good for Zebre (36-15), Benetton got the better of Edinburgh (24-17), while Munster claimed a hard-fought 24-17 victory in an all-Irish affair over Connacht.

Looking ahead to Round 9, the Sharks will be desperate to make amends when they host Ospreys at Kings Park on Friday (7:10pm), and there are two SA teams in action on Saturday when the Stormers face the Dragons in Gqeberha (2pm), before a clash between the Bulls and Cardiff at Loftus (8pm), and then the Lions finish off the weekend’s action when they welcome Scarlets to Ellis Park on Sunday (1:30pm).

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