The Northern Bulls defeated the Queensland Reds 43-22 to go third in the Super 15 table and complete a super Saturday for South African sides against Australian opponents.
The Bulls’ triumph in a Loftus Versfeld stadium tryfest followed wins for the Western Stormers over the NSW Waratahs in Sydney and the Central Cheetahs over the Western Force in Perth.
Left wing Francois Hougaard bagged two tries for the home side, while No. 8 and skipper Pierre Spies, prop Marcel van der Merwe, center Burger Odendaal and replacement scrumhalf Piet van Zyl scored one each.
Photo: EPA
Flyhalf Jacques-Louls Potgieter kicked four conversions and one penalty before being replaced by Tian Schoeman, who slotted two conversions.
Winger Lachie Turner, scrumhalf Will Genia, flyhalf Nick Frisby and South Africa-born replacement forward Marco Kotze crossed the tryline for the Reds.
Turner succeeded with a conversion in front of the posts, but failed with three others from difficult angles.
It was a sixth consecutive defeat for the bottom-of-the-table Reds and a seventh in eight games in the southern hemisphere interprovincial championship.
The Bulls are seven points behind combined standings leaders the Wellington Hurricanes of New Zealand, but just one adrift of the second-placed ACT Brumbies of Australia.
The South Africans punished mistakes to lead 24-5 after a first half in which they had only 30 percent possession and were forced to make more than twice as many tackles as the Australians.
Genia and Frisby scored early second-half tries for the Brisbane outfit to cut the gap to seven points, before two incidents had a major impact on the outcome.
Reds No. 8 Adam Thomson was yellow-carded for collapsing a maul as referee Jaco Peyper lost patience with the visitors after a number of forward infringements.
And the South African match official awarded a try to Van der Merwe two minutes later, despite big-screen replays suggesting it should have been disallowed for a double movement.
Springbok Hougaard came close to completing a hat-trick of tries before Van Zyl dotted down 11 minutes from time and Schoeman converted to close the scoring.
Meanwhile, the Golden Lions survived a stoppage-time scare to defeat the Sharks 23-21 on Saturday and secure a Super 15 top-six place for the first time this season.
After building a nine-point lead early in the second half of the ninth-round clash, the Johannesburg Lions looked set for a South African derby victory before being rattled by a late Sharks comeback.
Substitute prop Thomas du Toit barged over for a try two minutes from time, which flyhalf Fred Zeilinga converted, leaving just two points between the sides before a 38,000 Ellis Park crowd.
The visitors from Durban had a chance to snatch victory after the full-time hooter, when awarded a 57m penalty close to the touchline.
Zeilinga, deputizing for injured Springbok Patrick Lambie, had the distance, but not the accuracy, with his kick sailing to the right of the post.
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