The Emirates Lions and DHL Stormers added a tinge of drama to the home straight of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship on Saturday with stunning victories over the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Vodacom Bulls in Gauteng to create a massive logjam at the bottom half of the standings and throw the competition wide open with six rounds of regular pool matches remaining.

The Emirates Lions produced an excellent performance in the first of the two local derbies against the Hollywoodbets Sharks where they built on a 19-0 halftime lead, to claim an emphatic 38-14 bonus-point victory in Johannesburg, while the DHL Stormers held on with everything they had to shut out South Africa’s leading team, the Vodacom Bulls, for a nail-biting 19-16 victory in soaking conditions in Pretoria.

While it blew the race to the SA Shield wide open, with the two coastal teams the only sides still in the running for local bragging rights, the Vodacom Bulls managed to hold onto their third place on the table (on 41 points – three behind the Glasgow Warriors, who were pipped at home by the Ospreys), with the Hollywoodbets Sharks remained in fourth place on 34 points.

The win for the Emirates Lions saw them shoot up to ninth place with 28 points (one point behind the eighth-placed Connacht) and tied on points with the 10^th-placed Scarlets, 11^th-placed Ospreys, 12^th-placed DHL Stormers and 13^th-placed Benetton.

Ulster and Zebre Parma, meanwhile, only trail them by one and two points respectively, meaning the battle for quarter-final spots could come down to the wire in the next few weeks.

Fortunately for the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Emirates Lions they have a game in hand in Durban next week, which is where the SA Shield winner will be determined as both sides will also try to build on their positions in the competition.

Six-try Emirates Lions outclass Hollywoodbets Sharks in Johannesburg

The Emirates Lions delivered a classy display on attack and defence against the Hollywoodbets Sharks at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday to outscore the Durbanites six tries to two for a commanding 38-14 victory.

The hosts dominated the first half running in three tries to none by the visitors as they used the slippery and wet conditions to their advantage and played smart rugby, which involved some strong forward and tactical play.

Both teams ran hard at one another in the opening exchanges of the first half, but the hosts struck first in the sixth minute with a try by PJ Botha after a slick pass by Morne van den Berg to the hooker, who forced his way over the chalk, and the successful conversion handed them a 7-0 lead.

Francke Horn added their second try eight minutes later from a pick-and-go to push their lead to 14 points.

The Hollywoodbets Sharks tried hard to fight back, but they were shut out by the tenacious defence, and their attempts were stunted further in the 33^rd minute as Ntuthuko Mchunu received a yellow card for an infringement close to their tryline.

The Johannesburgers took full advantage of this with Edwill van der Merwe receiving the ball at pace and darting through to the tryline with three minutes left in the half to stretch their lead to 19-0 going into halftime.

The home team continued to make their presence felt on attack in the second half with Richard Kriel touching down for their bonus point try one minute after play resumed – this despite determined efforts by the KwaZulu-Natalians to work their way close to the tryline – which saw the Emirates Lions inflate their lead to 24-0.

Unlike the Hollywoodbets Sharks who were denied by mistakes and penalties conceded at crucial times, the Emirates Lions did well to apply pressure on attack and use their tactical kicking to put them on the front foot, which paid off with another try by Jarod Cairns.

The Hollywoodbets Sharks again found themselves down to 14 men as Jurenzo Julius was shown a yellow card in the 59^th minute, and this paved the way for Gianni Lombard to score their sixth five-pointer for an emphatic 38-0 lead with 10 minutes left on the clock.

The hosts suffered a blow in the 76^th minute as Lombard received a yellow card for not rolling away at a ruck, and this allowed the visitors to score two late tries by Ethan Hooker and Siya Kolisi, but it was too little too late.

Scorers:

Emirates Lions 38 (19) – Tries: PJ Botha, Francke Horn, Edwill van der Merwe, Richard Kriel, Jarrod Cairns, Gianni Lombard. Conversions: Gianni Lombard (3), Nico Steyn.

Hollywoodbets Sharks 14 (0) –Tries: Ethan Hooker, Siya Kolisi. Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse (2).

DHL Stormers edge Vodacom Bulls at soaking Loftus Versfeld

The DHL Stormers scraped through for a thrilling 19-16 victory against the Vodacom Bulls in a nail-biting North-South derby in driving rain at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, succeeding in their quest to avenge their 33-32 defeat against the Pretoria outfit a few weeks ago in Cape Town.

Adding to the anticipation of the game, the kick-off was delayed by over an hour following a cloud break and lightning, with the ground personnel scrambling to get the field in a playable condition, and as expected the match was riddled with errors and made scrummaging and the breakdowns particularly tough.

Despite this, the Vodacom Bulls dominated the scrums, while the visitors proved to be the better side at breakdown as the match wore on in incessant rain, and ironically it was a critical breakdown turnover by Evan Roos that eventually denied the Vodacom Bulls from having a last bite at a victory in the dying minutes.

The entire match was a tight tussle with the conditions making open rugby and crisp handling difficult, which saw both sides rely on penalty goals in the first half to keep the scoreboard ticking, with Jurie Matthee slotting over four to three by the Vodacom Bulls’ David Kriel for a 12-9 halftime lead.

Making the opening stanza even more difficult for the home side, they lost Springbok back Canan Moodie just six minutes after the kick-off after he took a big knock, while his national teammate Willie le Roux was shown a yellow card for a cynical offence ten minutes later.

The Vodacom Bulls fought back strongly in the second half, scoring the first try of the match in the 60^th minute by Ruan Vermaak compliments of some strong forward play close to the tryline to take a 16-12 lead, but the DHL Stormers fought back with a stunning try by Wandisile Simelane in the 67^th minute which initially stemmed from a smart chip kick, and this pushed them back into a 19-16 lead.

The Vodacom Bulls fought tooth and nail until the final hooter to snatch back the lead, but Roos dashed their hopes as he won the decisive breakdown turnover as the home side were working their way close to the tryline, and that was all the Capetonians needed to seal the victory.

Scorers:

Vodacom Bulls 16 (9) –Try: Ruan Vermaak. Conversion: David Kriel. Penalty goals: Kriel (3).

DHL Stormers 19 (12) –Try: Wandisile Simelane. Conversion: Jurie Matthee. Penalty goals: Matthee (4).