The Sharks were the only South African team to emerge from a tough weekend away from home in the United Rugby Championship (URC) with a win, after beating Edinburgh 22-19 in a thriller in Scotland on Saturday evening.
The Bulls were disappointingly beaten 37-28 by the Scarlets in Wales and the Stormers were beaten 35-5 by Ulster in Ireland on Friday night, while the Lions lost a high-scoring game 43-24 to Connacht in Ireland.
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In a tight game at the DAM Heath Stadium, the Sharks trailed 19-14 at half-time, before a stunning defensive display saw the visitors keep Edinburgh scoreless in the second half, as they took the eight points they needed to win by three points. .
It was actually a quick start to the game for the Sharks as tries from scrumhalf Grant Williams and wing Marnus Potgieter, converted by flyhalf Curwin Bosch, gave them a 14-0 lead in the first 20 minutes.
Edinburgh then showed class to hit back with three unanswered tries over the rest of the half, two to hooker Adam McBurney and one to fullback Henry Immelman, giving them a five point lead at the break.
A 42n.d A Bosch penalty minute and an unconverted effort to catch Kerron van Vuuren later saw the Sharks regain the lead on 61St minute, with them then make a stirring defensive effort through the last quarter to seal a good away win.
The Bulls were the most disappointing team for SA at the weekend as they lost to a team they should have beaten, missing a number of key players.
They took an early 7-3 lead in the game after some smart work from scrumhalf Zak Burger, but it was 27-14 after the Scarlets hit back.
A 54Th minutes of trying to flank Cyle Brink and 61St score minutes for Simphiwe Matanzima, two converted by flyhalf Chris Smith, gave the Bulls hope of a steal coming from behind to win because they reduced the deficit to 30-28, but the hosts then calmly saw out the game with the last converted try.
Decimate by injury
For the Stormers, a makeshift side that had been underdogs, they were decimated by injuries which led to a big loss against Ulster.
Before the game started, they had to make two final changes as experienced fullback Clayton Blommetjies and forward Junior Pokomela were ruled out, while star eight Evan Roos and flyhalf Jean-Luc du Plessis both picked up injuries in the first half.
This led to a disjointed performance as Ulster ran in five converted tries, while the Stormers could only respond with a late score to substitute Andre-Hugo Venter.
The Lions put in a poor performance as they were demolished by fired-up Connacht in the URC clash.
Connacht were in charge from start to finish, leading 29-17 at the break before clawing their way to a victory that could have been bigger had they not made so many handling errors in the second half.
The Lions managed to score three converted tries through prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye and centers Henco van Wyk and Marius Louw, while flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse added a penalty, but it did not cover a poor performance that saw them lose heavily.