There were wins for Newcastle Falcons, the Ospreys and the Sharks over Perpignan, the Lions and the Dragons in their respective Challenge Cup games.
Sunday’s matches wrapped up the pool stage of the competition with it resuming in April for the last-16 ties.
The impressed away from home with a 29-9 win over the Dragons at Rodney Parade as the Durban side cemented their position at the top of Pool One.
The Dragons moved into a 6-0 lead courtesy of Cai Evans’ boot, but they were pegged back when Jaden Hendrikse went over to make it 7-6.
Tries from , who added to his brace last week, and Gerbrandt Grobler gave the visitors breathing space before Le Roux Roets and Werner Kok sealed the victory.
This competition has proven to be a welcome relief for the Sharks, who have won three of their four games and are top seeds going into the knockout stages.
John Plumtree’s men will face Zebre Parma in the last-16 with a game against either Edinburgh or Bayonne in the quarter-finals should they get through that.
ended a run of 14 successive losses as they completed their campaign with a 32-23 victory over Perpignan Stade Aime Giral on Sunday.
With both sides already eliminated from the tournament there was little to play for but for Newcastle’s players there was the chance to impress incoming consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond.
Louie Johnson kicked Newcastle into a 9-3 lead but it was wiped out by a Lucas Dubois try for Perpignan, who led 13-9 at half-time.
Tries from Hugh O’Sullivan and Ben Redshaw put the Falcons in control and the unfaltering boot of Johnson secured a thoroughly deserved win in the south of France.
For Perpignan, Maxim Granell, Lucas Dubois and Louis Dupichot crossed the whitewash and their other points came via two penalties from Matteo Rodor and a conversion from Jean-Pascal Barraque.
The Ospreys produced an inspirational late comeback to clinch a 38-28 triumph against the Lions and wrap up their Challenge Cup group stage campaign in style in South Africa.
The Welsh outfit trailed 28-17 but stormed back with late tries from Keelan Giles, Cameron Jones and Morgan Morse to wrap up a highly impressive victory.
Both sides had already qualified for the next stage of the competition and the Ospreys were without a number of injured players including front-row Gareth Thomas.
Owen Watkin and George North – who exited with a shoulder problem – scored early tries but Ospreys had to bide their time to get the better of the hosts, who had three players sin-binned.
Marius Louw led the way for the Lions with a brace of tries while JC Pretorius and Morne van den Berg also dotted down, while Sanele Nohamba added a couple of penalties and a conversion.
