The Gautengers led 33-17 at the break and went on to outscore their visitors from KwaZulu-Natal by eight tries to three, with fullback Gilermo Mentoe scoring a brace and flyhalf Sam Francis succeeding with seven conversions.

Hakeem Kunene (fullback) had a good game for the Sharks and he was rewarded with two tries, while Frederick Marx (flyhalf) contributed two conversions.

Second-placed Vodacom Bulls, the 2022 winners, totally outplayed the Toyota Cheetahs 84-24 in their clash in Bloemfontein.

The young men from Pretoria ran in 14 tries, of which half were converted, while the Free Staters replied with four tries and two conversions. The Bulls scored eight of their tries by halftime and were already out of sight on the scoreboard at 40-5, while adding six more tries in the second half.

Wiehan Labuschagne (flanker), Kobus Janse van Rensburg (inside centre), and Demitre Erasmus (outside centre) all went over twice, while Regan Izaks (fullback) slotted seven conversions. Ferdinand Vergottini (flanker) scored a brace of tries for the Free Staters.

Defending champions DHL Western Province scored an important 48-14 away over the Leopards in Potchefstroom to stay in touch with the leading teams. Hooker Joshua Eras bagged a hat-trick of tries for the Capetonians, who won the contest with eight tries.

After nine rounds, the Lions are still flying high with 44 points followed by neighbouring Bulls (33 points), WP (30), Sharks (20), Leopards (10) and Free State (8).

This coming Friday sees a top-of the table clash between Gauteng rivals, the Bulls and the Lions (13h00), while the remaining two games will be staged on Saturday, when the Sharks host the Leopards in Durban (13h00) and the Cheetahs welcome WP to Bloemfontein (15h00).