Saturday 26 January 2019 20:03, UK
Edinburgh suffered a shock defeat to PRO14 strugglers Southern Kings, while there were wins for Munster, Cheetahs and Cardiff.
Yaw Penxe's late try gave strugglers Southern Kings a shock 25-21 win over Edinburgh in South Africa.
Bjorn Basson's third-minute converted try put the hosts ahead, but Chris Dean quickly got Edinburgh back on level terms with a try of his own.
The Scots then started to dominate through a penalty try and one for hooker Ross Ford, but the Kings, who were trailing by eight points with five minutes left to play, turned things round at the death.
Replacement Bader-Werner Pretorius powered over the whitewash in the 75th minute before Penxe combined with Meli Rokoua to blast over the tryline for a dramatic win.
Munster returned to the Conference A summit ahead of Glasgow Warriors as they beat the Dragons 8-7 in a low-key clash at Rodney Parade.
The Dragons led 7-3 at half-time thanks to a try from tighthead prop Lloyd Fairbrother, which Josh Lewis converted, while Bill Johnston kicked a penalty for Munster.
But an unconverted try by lock Jean Kleyn, the only score of the second period, gave the Irish visitors a slender victory.
Cardiff picked up an important victory in their quest to qualify for next season's Champions Cup by defeating Connacht 8-7 at the Arms Park.
The Blues had to overcome the loss of Brad Thyer and Nick Williams to the sin-bin as they held on against the elements in the second half.
Owen Lane produced a superb finish to score a first-half try for Cardiff after an early penalty from Steven Shingler. Connacht replacement Paul Boyle forced his way over in the last five minutes but Cardiff held on for the victory.
Shaun Venter scored two tries as the Cheetahs eased to a 61-28 victory over Zebre at Toyota Stadium.
Sibhale Maxwane went over for their first try just a minute into the contest and Malcolm Jaer, Sintu Manjezi and Abongile Nonkontwana also crossed as the hosts secured the bonus point before the interval. Paula Balekana replied for Zebre as they went into half-time 26-7 down.
It was much the same after the break as Ox Nche, Venter, Junior Pokomela and Benhard Janse Van Rensburg went over. It was not all rosy for the South Africans though as Justin Basson was sent off seven minutes from the end for a dangerous tackle.
Johan Meyer, Apisai Tauyavuca and George Biagi scored consolation tries for the Italians.
