Super Rugby round-up

The Bulls moved to the top of the South African conference with a 35-33 victory over the Lions in a thrilling Super Rugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Bulls have 34 points from 11 games, four more than the second-placed Stormers who were stunned 25-17 by the Cheetahs earlier in the day.

The Lions had clawed back from 25-10 down to lead by a single point going into the final 15 minutes before Bulls No 8 Pierre Spies barged over to regain the advantage for the home side.

Fly-half Handre Pollard extended the lead with a penalty, but flanker Jaco Kriel set up a grandstand finish when he rounded off good pressure from the Lions to score their third try with three minutes remaining.

The home side managed to hold on in the closing stages and claim a bonus-point win. The Bulls raced into a 12-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes thanks to two tries from scrum-half Piet van Zyl.

His opposite number Faf de Klerk closed the gap before the home side pulled away again when JJ Engelbrecht scored a brilliant solo try just before the half-hour mark.

Pollard added the conversion and two penalties as the Bulls led 25-13 at the break, with visiting No 10 Elton Jantjies adding a conversion and two penalties.

Jantjies added two more penalties in the second half before prop Jacques van Rooyen crossed for a try for the Lions, with the former adding a conversion to put his side in front.

Spies restored the home side's lead 13 minutes later and despite late pressure from the visitors through Kriel's try, they edged a highly entertaining match.

Cheetahs upset Stormers

Cheetahs dented the title hopes of fellow South Africans Stormers with a gutsy 25-17 triumph in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Title hopefuls Stormers started the match at Free State Stadium as favourites after three consecutive victories, but finished it pointless after trailing 18-10 at half-time.

An injury-enforced half-time substitution played a crucial role in the outcome as Stormers fly-half Demetri Catrakilis was replaced by Kurt Coleman.

In the opening half, Catrakilis slotted a penalty and a conversion to increase to 27 his consecutive successful kicks at goal this season. But Coleman succeeded only with a conversion from almost in front of the posts while fluffing four penalty shots, including a stoppage-time effort to try and snatch a losing bonus point.

The Stormers dominated the scrums, with two sets of front rowers giving endless problems to a Cheetahs side lacking injured Springbok prop Coenie Oosthuizen.

But the Cheetahs stole the ball at three consecutive first half line-outs as the Stormers' problems in that area carried over from a narrow home win over the Bulls last weekend.

And the visitors struggled to contain the in-your-face attitude of the Cheetahs, who stayed 12th overall after a fourth victory in 11 outings.