**The Sharks and the Bulls secured victories in a thrilling opening round of the new PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA tournament.** Reniel Hugo scored a hat-trick of tries as the Sharks recovered from a 23-7 deficit to beat the Stormers 33-30 in a hard-fought encounter. The Bulls began their campaign with a 22-9 win over the Lions at Loftus Versfeld. Tries from Herschel Jantjies and Rikus Pretorius got the Sharks off to a flying start in their first match at the Cape Town Stadium but they then had Seabelo Senatla sent off and Willie Engelbrecht sin-binned.
