Once again the South African teams have started badly in the United Rugby Championships.

➤ Playing the Glasgow Warriors in Glasgow is a tough ask in anybody’s book, but the Stormers should have done better.

The Warriors worked at getting three tries while the Stormers worked at getting two yellow cards with Evan Roos in an ill-tempered encounter while Joseph Dweba managed to perform an old-fashioned spear tackle. The terrible Glasgow weather had a massive impact and will continue to do so for the rest of the championship.

➤ The Sharks scored a beautiful team try through Phendulani Buthelezi in the third minute against the Ospreys. This was expected as the mighty Sharks were going to score a runaway victory against the lowly Welsh side, right? Nope.

The Osprey scored three tries, two of them converted, as the Sharks fumbled around for a full 75 minutes.

➤ Fortunately, the Bulls scored seven tries (three of them in the last ten minutes) against Zebre, giving the South African teams their only win of the weekend.

Of course, Zebre Parma from Italy is one of the bottom-performing teams and they scored four tries, but the win was nonetheless convincing.

➤ The Lions have been unlucky to have lost their first two matches by narrow margins, but they were expected to beat Benetton in Italy.

The Lions showed some intent (as they have been in previous weeks) and managed to draw even at 10-10, but Benetton scored a second try in a match played without passion by both sides.

Glasgow Warriors (3 tries) 20-9 (0 tries) Stormers

Ospreys (3 tries) 19-5 (1 try) Sharks

Bulls (7 tries) 54-29 (4 tries) Zebre Parma

Benetton (2 tries) 15-10 (1 try) Lions

Pictured above: The Blue Bulls winning over the weekend.

Image source: X