The Lions beat their neighbours from Pretoria by a convincing margin of 41-26 at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday after racing into a 24-0 halftime lead courtesy of a dominating spell in the opening half.

However, the Bulls responded with four second half tries, of which three were converted, to make the clash a real competitive affair. The Lions managed to add two converted tries and a penalty goal to their tally to pull away from their opponents.

In the end, the Joburg side scored five converted tries and two penalty goals to secure a good bonus point win and retain their status as the only unbeaten side in the competition. Sam Francis, the Lions’ flyhalf, contributed 16 points though five conversions and two penalty goals.

Bulls replacement outside back Demitre Erasmus made a good impact in the second half by scoring two of his team's four tries, while Regan Izaks (flyhalf) slotted three conversions.

DHL Western Province posted 70 points for a second time in a row when they overran the Toyota Cheetahs by 70-7 in their clash played at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday. The Cape side scored 10 converted tries to the solo effort by the Free Staters.

WP were already out of reach at halftime, leading by 42-0, after scoring six converted tries, while they managed to keep the Bloemfontein outfit scoreless.

Former Junior Bok scrumhalf Imad Khan had another profitable afternoon with the kicking boot as he succeeded with all 10 of his conversions – last week he managed to steer eight conversions through the sticks. Khan also scored a try for a personal tally of 25 points.

Outside centre Jonathan Roche helped himself to a hat-trick of tries while last year's Junior Bok captain, Paul de Villiers (loose forward), scored a brace of five-pointers. Replacement utility back Luke Carew scored Cheetahs' only try.

The Hollywoodbets Sharks crossed the line five times in the first half and three more after the break to defeat the Leopards by 56-26 in their round-five clash played at Olen Park in Potchefstroom. The Durbinates' eight converted tries in the end secured them a comfortable victory on the road.

Loose forward Matt Romao grabbed two of the eight tries, while pivot Chris Horak succeeded with six of the eight conversion attempts. Flyhalf MJ Mostert scored a try and three conversions for the Leopards.

After five rounds of action, the unbeaten Lions are still top of the table with 24 points. WP overtook the Bulls into second place with 18 points from four wins, while the Bulls (17) moved down to third following their loss to the Lions.

The top three are followed by the Sharks, who are fourth on 10 points, then the Cheetahs (five points) and last-placed Leopards (three points).

The action now takes a break until 31 August, when the next round will take place.

Scorers:

Fidelity ADT Lions U21 41 (24), Vodacom Bulls U21 26 (0)
Lions – Tries: SJ Kotze, Christopher Sjoblom, Layton Horn, Bronson Mills, Keagan Smith. Conversions: Sam Francis (5). Penalty goals: Francis (2).
Bulls – Tries: Demitre Erasmus (2), Corne Lavagna, Johan Louw. Conversions: Regan Izaks (3).

DHL WP U21 70 (42), Toyota Cheetahs U21 7 (0)
WP – Tries: Jonathan Roche (3), Paul de Villiers (2), Max du Pisani, Compion von Ludwig, Jared Africa, Ryan Manuel, Imad Khan. Conversions: Khan (10).
Cheetahs – Try: Luke Carew. Conversion: Bradley Giddy.

Leopards U21 26 (12), Hollywoodbets Sharks U21 56 (35)
Leopards – Tries: Kraynu Kruger, Zihan Bensch, MJ Mostert, Angelo Daniels. Conversions: Mostert (3).
Sharks – Tries: Matt Romao (2), Phatu Ganyane, Christian Everitt, Van Heerden Pretorius, Maurice Willemse, Andrew Davis, Yabo Ndzamela. Conversions: Chris Horak (6), Stehan Heymans (2).