Super Rugby: Force stun champion Waratahs

Western Force stunned New South Wales Waratahs 25-13 at their Sydney Football Stadium home on Sunday to hand the error-prone Super Rugby champions a miserable start to their title defence.

The Force were the surprise package of last season and they indicated they would respect few reputations in 2015 either as they shackled the much vaunted Waratahs backline and secured a bonus point with four tries.

With Waratahs number eight Wycliff Palu in the sin-bin, flanker Chris Alcock got the ball over the line after a catch-and-drive five minutes before the break and fellow backrow forward Angus Cottrell barged over from close range straight after halftime.

Winger Rob Horne finally scored the Waratahs' first try of the season to cut the deficit to 15-8 after 55 minutes but Luke Morahan extended the Force lead on the break after a turnover 11 minutes later.

Replacement Force prop Francois van Wyk secured the bonus point after running back an ill-judged chip kick from Kurtley Beale eight minutes from time and Horne's second try was only going to be a consolation.

Van Wyk came on as a replacement for Wallaby Pek Cowan, who was taken off the pitch in a neck and head brace after a scrum collapsed in the 24th minute.

Bulls 17-29 Stormers

South African rugby's new Player of the Year Duane Vermeulen put in a powerful performance that included a first-half try as the Stormers beat the Bulls 29-17 in a Super Rugby clash at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The number eight helped the visitors counter the Bulls' physical pack and scored their second try after wing Dillyn Leyds had capitalised on a knock-on from home fullback Jurgen Visser.

Fly-half Demetri Catrakilis booted four penalties and two conversions, to go with a drop goal from Kurt Coleman, as the Stormers led 17-5 at halftime and continued to force the Bulls into errors in the second period.

Flanker Deon Stegmann notched a third-minute try for the Bulls and flyhalf Handre Pollard added four penalties on a night when they welcomed back Springbok loose forward Pierre Spies off the bench after he missed the entire Super Rugby season last year.

Blues 18-23 Chiefs

The Chiefs opened their Super Rugby campaign in impressive fashion as they claimed a 23-18 win against the Blues in Auckland.

James Lowe and Bryce Heem scored the tries for the Chiefs with Damian McKenzie booting 13 points in a brilliant performance at the pivot. Ihaia West kicked six penalties for the Blues.

West kicked the Blues into an early lead from the tee but that did not last long last as the Chiefs scored the opening try after 10 minutes.

The visitors worked forward from a scrum and, after spreading the ball wide to Lowe, the wing beat two defenders before sprinting for the line.

McKenzie added the extras to make it 7-3 but just four minutes later the gap was wider still as the Chiefs went over again.

Sonny Bill Williams did well to gather a high ball and found Heem who raced clear to touch down with McKenzie once again adding the extra two points.

McKenzie had clearly found his range early and he made no mistake with a 40-metre penalty to extend the lead to 17-3.

West and McKenzie then traded further penalties and West added a third before the break to reduce the deficit to 11 points.

Matt Symons was sin-binned for failing to roll away just two minutes into the second-half and West booted the resulting penalty but McKenzie soon replied with a kick of his own.

West added a further six points with the boot to get the Blues within a try and set up a tense finish but the Chiefs held firm to open their campaign with a win.

Sharks 29-35 Cheetahs

Gary Gold made a losing start to his tenure as Sharks coach after a surprise 35-29 home defeat by the Cheetahs in an all-South African Super Rugby fixture at King's Park on Saturday.

The Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs earned a bonus point to boot with tries from Jean Cook, Francois Venter, Boom Prinsloo and Carl Wegner, while flyhalf Joe Pietersen kicked three penalties and two conversions.

The Sharks, who trailed 20-16 at halftime in Durban, stayed in the game via the boot of flyhalf Pat Lambie as he kicked 19 points to go with the opening try for his side, before winger Lwazi Mvovo scored late on to set-up a grandstand finish.

The home side bombarded the Cheetahs line in the final five minutes and thought they had their third try when loose-forward Marcell Coetzee bulldozed his way over the line, but was adjudged to have lost the ball forward in the act of scoring.

The Cheetahs, who had the most pourous defence in Super Rugby in 2014 and have had a problem closing out matches in the last few seasons, held on for a famous win against the most fancied of the South African sides in this year's competition.