The South African teams claimed a clean sweep in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday with a full house of wins.

At Kings' Park in Durban, the Sharks recorded just their second win of the season in the URC with a 22-12 win against Ulster.

Phepsi Buthelezi, Eduan Keyter and Bongi Mbonambi all scored tries for the hosts, while Siya Masuka landed two conversions and a penalty. For the team from Belfast, tries were scored by Harry Sheridan and Kieran Treadwell, while John Cooney converted one try.

Over in Cape Town, the Stormers moved up to fifth on the log with a resounding win against Sean Everitt's Edinburgh. The winger, Suleiman Hartzenberg, scored a hat-trick of tries for the Stormers in their 43-21 win over the Scottish outfit.

The loose-forward Evan Roos and winger, Leolin Zas, each scored a brace of tries as well.

In Galway, the Lions earned a big win to move up to 8th on the log as they stunned Connacht with a 38-14 win.

Francke Horn scored a brace of tries for the team from Johannesburg, while JC Pretorius, Edwill van der Merwe, Erich Cronjé and Morné van den Berg also crossed the whitewash. The Sharks-bound flyhalf, Jordan Hendrikse managed to convert four of the six tries.

The Bulls rounded off the good weekend for the South African team with a 31-10 victory against the Dragons at Rodney Parade in Newport.

Kurt-Lee Arendse, Celimpilo Gumede, Embrose Papier and Johan Grobbelaar all scored tries as the Bulls secured a bonus point to move up to second ahead of their top-of-the table clash against Leinster in Dublin on Saturday.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport