The Valke, Leopards and Down Touch Griffons laid down a marker in the opening round of the Carling Currie Cup First Division, with all of them recording bonus-point victories on the road in the South and East Cape.
The Valke and Leopards scored 50 points apiece, with Robey Leibrandt, hooker for the men from North West, the big star of the round with a hat-trick of tries as they beat Eastern Province by 50-29 at Wolfson Stadium on Saturday.
Approximately 330km towards the west on the N2, the East Randers were too strong for the Eagles and won by 50-17 at Outeniqua Park in George on Friday, scoring eight tries to the three by the hosts.
The final game of the weekend was at Police Park in East London, where the Down Touch Griffons beat the Border Bulldogs by 35-18.
SWD Eagles 17-50 Valke
SWD Eagles – Tries: Marquit September, Luciano Jones, Shane Ball. Conversion: Shane Ball.
Valke – Tries: Armand Grobler, Reuben du Plooy (2), Freddie Ngoza, Denzel Hill, Andrew van Wyk, Qhama Hina, Johan Pretorius. Conversions: Andrew Van Wyk (2), Anrich Richter (2), Joshua Vermeulen.
Border Bulldogs 18-35 Down Touch Griffons
Border Bulldogs – Tries: Billy Dutton, Bangi Kobese. Conversion: Anele Zweni. Penalties: Lwandile Mapuko (2).
Down Touch Griffons – Tries: Ethan Williams, Niel Stannard, Domenic Smit, Hannes Janse van Rensburg, Gurshwin Wehr. Conversions: Aphiwe Stemele (4), Domenic Smit.
Eastern Province 29-50 Leopards
EP – Tries: Ntsika Fistanti, Davian Swanepoel, Mbembe Payi, Temba Boltina. Conversions: Luvo Claassen (3). Penalty: Luvo Claassen.
Leopards – Tries: Robey Leibrandt (3), Heinz Bertram, Andries Fouche (2), Duren Hoffman. Conversions: Danrich Visagie (5), Victor Maruping. Penalty: Danrich Visagie.