The DHL Stormers are the early table toppers in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship - and the only team with a 100 per cent record.
The Stormers were in ruthless form over the weekend as they recorded a big win over Scarlets in Stellenbosch.
Connacht and Ulster also maintained their winning starts to the season with victories over Glasgow Warriors and Vodacom Bulls respectively and sit one point below Stormers on nine points.
Edinburgh also have two wins from two after the narrowest of victories over the Emirates Lions while Munster remained unbeaten after coming back to draw with Benetton with a last-gasp converted try.
Ospreys, Cardiff and Leinster all got their seasons up and running as they got the better of Zebre Parma, Dragons and the Hollywoodbets Sharks.
Ospreys 34-31 Zebre Parma
Justin Tipuric was at his brilliant best as Ospreys bagged their first victory of the season at the Swansea.com Stadium.
A revitalised and exciting Zebre out-scored the Welsh team 5-4 on tries and collected two bonus points – Ospreys got one – but their losing streak in the competition, which stretched back to March last year when they defeated the Dragons in Italy, was extended to 27 matches.
There was five tries and 33 points in the opening 25 minutes with Zebre leading 19-14 after blasting out of the starting blocks and into a 12-point lead with tries from winger Simone Gesi and skipper Giovanni Licata, the former’s converted by fly-half Geronimo Prisciantelli.
Reuben Morgan-Williams and Mat Protheroe replied to put Ospreys ahead, but they relinquished the lead when Gesi went over for the second time with Prisciantelli converting.
Max Nagy and Nicky Smith crossed to earn Ospreys a bonus point, but Zebre were not finished and came roaring back with New Zealander Scott Gregory scoring out wide for Prisciantelli to convert to reduce the arrears to five points.
Owen Williams eased nerves with a vital penalty and Gregory got a second try for Zebre from the final play of the encounter to ensure a deserved second bonus point, but time ran out on them.
Ospreys head coach Toby Booth said: "It's always easier to improve when you win because ultimately the moodstate should be better. Tomorrow it will say five points and on Monday it will say five points and on Tuesday it will say five points.
"There's a lot in that performance from management, being smart, the little things and the adjustments and we're a new group that's learning as we go along and there will be a lot of learning to to. But it's a lot easier to learn when you win."
Connacht 34-26 Glasgow Warriors
Connacht scored 20 unanswered points in 15 second-half minutes to see off Glasgow Warriors at the Sportsground.
Tom Jordan’s try on the stroke of half-time had Warriors leading 19-14, with Kyle Rowe scoring on his debut and their maul forcing a penalty try. Diarmuid Kilgallen crossed for Connacht to add to JJ Hanrahan’s three penalties.
Indeed, Glasgow leaked 15 points from penalties and were held scoreless for most of the final 40 minutes. Dylan Tierney-Martin, Kilgallen and Cathal Forde put Connacht well clear before replacement Jamie Dobie’s last-minute bonus-point score.
Glasgow back-row Henco Venter said: "We’re not happy with our performance at all.
“We knew that coming to Galway would be a tough test for us, and we know that Connacht are a very good team, but we weren’t at the level that we demand or expect from ourselves.
“We’ll take the positives, learn from it, and do everything we can to prevent it from happening again.”
DHL Stormers 52-7 Scarlets
Marcel Theunissen and Paul De Wet both scored a pair of tries for DHL Stormers as Scarlets suffered a second heavy defeat on their South African swing.
The Welsh region has now conceded 115 points from their opening two games and will be relieved to get back to Llanelli next week, while their only score came from scrum-half Kieran Hardy.
Clayton Blommetjies, Ben Loader, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Courtnall Skosan also went in for tries for the South Africans.
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: "We were out-muscled, it was as simple as that. We were in the game for the first 15 to 20 minutes, but errors cost us and we were punished through their power. Physically we just weren’t at the races and we just couldn’t hold on.
"We are obviously disappointed, we have had two heavy defeats, but the learnings we have to take is that a lot of the guys are having their first tour here and they will understand the level of physicality and application required at the top end of the game, that is what we spoke about after the game.
"It has got to become an obsession to get better and a few of the boys will have had their eyes opened. As much as you can talk about it, it shocks you. We have to improve in that respect and those guys will hopefully take that learning. Hopefully, that is a motivation to drive to get better.”
Leinster 34-13 Hollywoodbets Sharks
Max Deegan marked his 100th appearance for Leinster with a try at a wet RDS Arena.
Well-taken scores from Jordan Larmour and Deegan steered Leo Cullen’s men into a 12-6 half-time lead. A brace of early penalties from Curwin Bosch put the Sharks on the board.
Bouncing back from last Sunday’s defeat in Glasgow, Leinster secured their bonus point through replacement Rob Russell and Tommy O’Brien, before Russell cancelled out Dylan Richardson’s late consolation try.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said: "We're up and running which is nice, and good for this group as well because they put in a lot of good work over pre-season.
"We probably rode our luck on a few different occasions but we’ll take it and it’s a positive step from where we were this time last week.
"We were under a bit of pressure last week, but they responded excellently this week."
Edinburgh 17-16 Emirates Lions
Edinburgh just maintained their winning start to the season at Hive Stadium.
The game could have gone either way, and the South Africans led for a spell midway through the second half, but a vital score on his debut by Ewan Ashman helped the home team end up with their noses in front.
Luke Crosbie also went over for Edinburgh with Ben Healy kicking two conversions and a penalty.
Francke Horn scored the Lions' try with Jordan Hendrikse adding 11 points with the boot.
Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt said: "We knew it was going to be tough. We saw last week that they’re a team that never goes away and their young players have become men over the last three years.
"It was never going to be easy and they pride themselves on the set-piece battle and that's where we struggled.
"You need to have a good set-piece to get a good win and that’s what we need to work on. I’m obviously happy with the result as last season these results went the other way and that’s a big positive for us.”
Benetton 13-13 Munster
Tom Ahern’s last-gasp try rescued a draw for Munster as they fought back from 13-3 down to earn a draw.
The defending champions came on strong in the closing stages and although Scott Buckley saw a try chalked off for a knock-on, Ahern bundled over and Joey Carbery’s conversion evened up the scores.
Rhyno Smith crossed for the Italians four minutes before the break with Jacob Umaga booting the rest of their points from two penalties and a conversion.
Carbery also booted two penalties to add to the conversion of Ahern's try.
Munster coach Graham Rowntree said: "It took us to the last five minutes to get a draw and we managed to get a draw.
"I thought that was a very good performance by Treviso. For 63 minutes, we just could not break them down.
"But we showed a lot of composure there as a team and did well to stay in the game - that is what I am actually pleased about.
"But we will have to look at our game, we have got to be more clinical and more accurate."
Dragons 9-16 Cardiff
Cardiff won the first Welsh derby of the season with a hard-fought victory at Rodney Parade.
In an attritional battle, it was left to Wales international centre Mason Grady to score the only try of the game with Tinus De Beer adding three penalties and a conversion.
Three penalties from Angus O’Brien was the Dragons’ response.
Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan said: "We want to win, and we didn’t. A couple of errors were momentum swingers.
“I thought the group played their hearts out with all the changes. Playing with four second rows and a hooker in your back row limits your options off line-out attack and phase play.
“We almost found a way, but we need to stop being an almost team.”
Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt said: "It was about getting the job done. It certainly wasn't a classic, but derbies rarely are in terms of attack and attacking flair. However, we ground it out.
"We kicked well given the strong wind and the Wales boys coming back made a real impact."
Ulster 26-19 Vodacom Bulls
First-half tries from Tom Stewart and Jacob Stockdale helped Ulster to a hard-fought victory on what was the first game played on the Kingspan Stadium’s new synthetic surface.
Nathan Doak kicked both conversions and added four penalties to claim 16 points as the Irish province made it two wins from two games.
The South Africans made Ulster battle all the way and scored tries from Gerhard Steenekamp, Sebastian de Klerk and Elrigh Louw, with two conversions from Johan Goosen.