The Vodacom Bulls returned to winning ways in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship on Saturday as they registered an encouraging victory against the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg, while two penalty tries saw the DHL Stormers force a draw with the Cell C Sharks in Durban.

The 34-10 win for the Pretoria side at Emirates Airline Park marked only their second in the competition after seven rounds of matches, and it allowed them to leap-frog the Emirates Lions on the standings.

In Saturday’s second SA derby, the DHL Stormers canceled out a 11-3 halftime lead by the Cell C Sharks at Hollywoodbets Kings Park to snatch a 22-22 draw at the death as they were awarded a penalty try for a deliberate knock-down with a two-man overlap and the try-line begging.

The Durbanites still lead the standings in the South African Shield with 16 points from their seven matches, which also sees them in overall 10^th position), followed by the DHL Stormers on 14 points (12^th position) and the Vodacom Bulls and Emirates Lions on 12 points (in 13^th and 14^th position respectively).

Next weekend, the Vodacom Bulls host the Emirates Lions in Pretoria (15h00), and the Cell C Sharks travel to Cape Town to take on the DHL Stormers (17h05).