The DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls started the new Vodacom United Rugby Championship season on a perfect note with bonus-point victories in Gauteng on the weekend.
The Emirates Lions refused to give up in their local derby against the Capetonians and left the field with their heads held high and two bonus points, while Munster started the defence of their Vodacom United Rugby Championship with victory over the Hollywoodbets Sharks at Thomond Park. The Vodacom Bulls showed a clinical edge as they powered past Scarlets.
It was a good opening weekend for the Scottish sides as Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors both came out on top against Dragons and Leinster respectively.
Benetton rallied to edge to victory at Cardiff while Connacht did just enough to hold off Ospreys and Ulster got the better of a 12-try thriller to beat Zebre Parma in Italy.
Emirates Lions 33-35 DHL Stormers: The DHL Stormers survived a second-half Emirates Lions fightback to prevail at Emirates Airline Park.
Stormers saw their dreams of back-to-back titles crushed by Munster in last season’s final but made a dominant start to the new campaign against their South African Shield rivals.
They led 32-7 early in the second half before the Lions crossed four times to set up a grandstand finish but they had to settle for two losing bonus points.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored two tries with Joseph Dweba and Herschel Jantjies also crossing for Stormers and Clayton Blommetjies kicked three conversions and a penalty. Feinberg-Mngomezulu also sent over two penalties.
PJ Botha, Henco van Wyk, Ruan Venter, Morne van den Berg and Francke Horn had the Lions tries, with Jordan Hendrikse and Sanele Nohamba converting two each.
Munster 34-21 Hollywoodbets Sharks: Final-quarter tries from Andrew Conway and Ethan Coughlan earned Munster a bonus-point win as they made a successful start to their title defence at Thomond Park.
Academy lock Edwin Edogbo’s first URC try put his side on course for a 21-7 half-time lead, with Diarmuid Barron and Antoine Frisch also scoring to sandwich Werner Kok’s 37th-minute reply.
Despite James van Rensburg crossing in the 48th minute to cancel out a Joey Carbery penalty, the Sharks lost Cameron Wright to the sin bin and those scores from Conway and Coughlan put the result beyond doubt.
Carberry converted three to add to his penalty.
The Sharks did muster a late consolation effort from Aphelele Fassi, with Curwin Bosch converting again, something to take with them into next week’s trip to Leinster.
Vodacom Bulls 63-21 Scarlets: The Vodacom Bulls showed a ruthless streak as they launched their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign at Loftus Versfeld in style.
Cameron Hanekom and Stedman Gans both scored a brace of tries and Ruan Nortje, Johan Grobbelaar, David Kriel, Akker Van Der Merwe and Wandisile Simelane also crossed as the Bulls ran in nine tries, with Johan Goosen converting them all for a personal haul of 18 points.
Taine Plumtree went over twice on his Scarlets debut and Johnny McNicholl also touched down with Ioan Lloyd tagging on three conversions.
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: "We had a lesson in execution. The Bulls were very clinical, especially in that first 25 minutes, they punished every error we made.
“We came back into it and I’m disappointed we didn’t get the bonus point for four tries but at the end of the day we didn’t really deserve it.
“The reality is not many sides come here and win. Some good sides have been sent packing here."
Zebre Parma 36-40 Ulster: Ulster staged a second-half fightback to get their campaign off to a winning start at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.
Zebre had lost 25 matches in a row and were without a victory since April 2022.
But the Italians showed they are a far more serious proposition this season, sharing 12 tries in a dramatic contest and picking up two bonus points.
Giovanni Licata and Simone Gesi went over twice for Zebre, who also crossed through Lorenzo Pani and Scott Gregory with Geronimo Prisciantelli converting three.
Jacob Stockdale and Tom Stewart had braces of their own for Ulster and Jake Flannery and Mike Lowry also had tries with Nathan Doak converting five of the six.
Connacht 34-26 Ospreys: Caolin Blade's 22-minute first-half hat-trick catapulted Connacht to an opening bonus-point win at the Sportsground.
The diminutive scrum-half started the new season in brilliant form, earning his reward for his support running. His half-back partner JJ Hanrahan kicked 12 points as Connacht built a 27-5 half-time lead.
Following up on a late Keelan Giles try, Ospreys cut the gap to eight points after Reuben Morgan-Williams and new signing James Ratti had crossed.
However, they were unable to mark Justin Tipuric's 200th appearance with a comeback win.
A closing effort from influential lock Rhys Davies did earn the Welsh side a try-scoring bonus point but Cathal Forde's 56th-minute score, converted by Hanrahan, had Connacht too far in front.
Blade said: "It was a tough game, Ospreys are a quality side. We started the game really well, the first half was good and we probably left a few tries out there.
"We had a little bit of a dip in the second half but we will take five points and move on to next week.
"Individual awards aren't what I am chasing this year, we are chasing bigger and better things. I am happy with my performance but we move on."
Dragons 17-22 Edinburgh: Debutant Ben Healy proved to be the match-winner by kicking 17 points as Edinburgh opened their account with a comeback victory.
The hosts looked in control when they led 17-6 but they faded to allow former Munster man Healy to make them pay for their ill-discipline by kicking five penalties in addition to Ben Vellacott's converted try.
Sio Tomkinson and Corey Baldwin scored Dragons’ tries with Cai Evans converting both and adding a penalty.
Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan said: “I am gutted, the second quarter was when we lost it. We lost momentum and lost the ref with our decisions and ill-discipline.
“We gave away 20 penalties – you wouldn't win at any level, let alone URC with that, especially with a kicker like Ben Healy in the opposition."
Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt said: “We spoke about resilience in pre-season and we certainly showed that.
“We stuck to our plan in the second half but tweaked it a little with more contestable kicking and then our defence was really good and we managed to get a couple turnovers. I’m really pleased with the result and the way the boys fought back.”
Cardiff 22-23 Benetton: The boot of Jacob Umaga proved crucial as Benetton overturned a 16-point deficit at the Arms Park.
The Italian outfit had trailed 19-3 after 32 minutes but went up a gear in the second half to snatch the spoils in the final minute of the match.
Umaga nailed a penalty after Benetton prop Simone Ferrari had been laid out by a shoulder to the head from debut-making Cardiff prop Ciaran Parker, who was sent off for dangerous play.
It had been a one-sided second half, with Cardiff’s only points coming through a penalty from new outside-half Tinus De Beer.
They had been 19-10 to the good at the end of a first half in which they had played most of the rugby, with three tries in 14 minutes from Liam Belcher, Rhys Carre and Ellis Bevan, two of them converted by De Beer.
Benetton had taken an early lead with a penalty from outside-half Umaga, the nephew of All Blacks great Tana Umaga.
Gianmarco Lucchesi and Tomas Albornoz crossed for Benetton, with Umaga landing 13 points from the tee.
Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt said: "It's important we don't judge the whole game on one moment.
"Our kicking and catching game was good. Our set piece was excellent. Our multi-phase defence was excellent.
"A lot of the areas that are going to keep you in games were pretty good. It was just we weren't able to apply enough pressure in the second half to keep the scoreboard ticking over."
Glasgow Warriors 43-25 Leinster: A Glasgow side containing seven members of Scotland’s Rugby World Cup squad were pushed all the way before eventually securing a bonus-point win.
Although they were without their own World Cup contingent, the Irish province never fell out of contention until the closing minutes of the game.
Josh McKay, Sebastian Cancelliere, Huw Jones, Angus Fraser, George Horne and Johnny Matthews went over for Glasgow, who were also awarded a penalty try. Tom Jordan converting two of the tries and Horne one.
Jack Boyle, Lee Barron and Tommy O’Brien went over for Leinster, with fly-half Harry Byrne kicking two penalties and two conversions.
