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Wellington -The Sharks and Stormers remained the only unbeaten Super 15 sides after round four at the weekend while the Crusaders served notice they are back on track.
WIN: Bulls vs Stormers tickets
With the benefit of bonus points, the high-scoring Sharks are two points clear of the Stormers who ended the Highlanders dream run and forced the Southern-most franchise down to fourth behind the Waratahs.
At the other end of the table the Lions had cause to celebrate as they posted their first win since May 2009.
The Sharks could count themselves lucky to survive against the Rebels with both sides scoring four tries and only a narrowly missed conversion from the sideline by Danny Cipriani separated the two.
"We showed a bit of grit tonight," Sharks captain John Smit noted after his side trailed 20-25 with 10 minutes remaining before fighting back to win 34-32.
The Stormers were forced to rely on six penalties by Peter Grant and a heroic defensive effort to shut out the Highlanders 18-6 in a bruising encounter in Cape Town.
There were no tries in the match in which the Highlanders enjoyed an overwhelming territorial advantage but their only points came from two first half penalties by Robbie Robinson.
"I could not have asked for more from my team-mates and the effort that went into preventing Highlanders scoring a try was unbelievable," said a beaming Stormers captain Jean de Villiers.
Sean Maitland scored a Super record-equalling four tries in the Crusaders 52-10 win over the Brumbies, sending a clear signal their season is back on track after the disruption of the devastating Christchurch earthquake on February 22.
The All Blacks-laden side may have been flattered by their 19-10 lead at the break, but they turned on the power when play resumed with three converted tries in seven minutes and the Brumbies were destined for their third defeat.
The Hurricanes re-ignited their season with a cliff-hanger 29-26 win over the Chiefs to overtake the Blues in third place in the New Zealand conference.
In their first game in three weeks after being sidelined by the Christchurch quake and a bye the Hurricanes were rusty in the opening exchanges but sealed the match with a dominant final quarter.
A converted try and a penalty in the dying minutes enabled the Blues to snatch a lucky 22-22 draw with Australia's Force who remain winless after three games.
The Force were leading 22-12 with just three minutes to play when Blues captain Kevin Mealamu burrowed over for a try which Stephen Brett converted before kicking the equalising penalty with just 15 seconds left on the clock.
The Lions snapped a 17-match losing streak when they beat the Cheetahs 25-20 in Bloemfontein with the lead changing five times in the match.
Last season the Lions suffered the humiliation of losing all 13 matches, and captain Franco van der Merwe appeared stunned that the losing run was finally over.
"I have forgotten what it feels like to win a Super rugby match and let us hope this is the first of many victories. We came so close to winning so often and nearly threw this one away a couple of times.
The Bulls, Reds and Waratahs all had a bye.
