Last season’s United Rugby Championship runners-up, Bulls, were indebted to a late penalty from Morne Steyn as they edged past Edinburgh 33-31 on Saturday.

Jake White’s men had established a comfortable 15-0 advantage thanks to Johan Grobbelaar and Elrigh Louw tries, but the Scots hit back.

Charlie Savala and Darcy Graham brought the visitors back into the contest at the interval, leaving them just one point in arrears going into the final 40 minutes.

Although Cornal Hendricks’ effort at the start of the second period put the Bulls back in command, Graham completed his hat-trick to once again bring the teams to within one point.

And 15 minutes later, a single point still separated the sides, but this time in Edinburgh’s favour. Stravino Jacobs had touched down for the Bulls but it went unconverted and when Damien Hoyland went over for the Scottish outfit, Mark Bennett added the extras.

Mike Blair’s men appeared set for an important victory but late on the hosts were awarded a penalty which Steyn scored to snatch the win.

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Edinburgh started brightly, but Henry Pyrgos and Henry Immelman both failed with drop-goal attempts inside the opening two minutes and the Bulls went ahead with a Chris Smith penalty.

Ill-discipline cost Edinburgh early on and Grant Gilchrist had a spell in the sin-bin. Short-range tries from Grobbelaar and Louw gave the Bulls a healthy advantage.

Edinburgh responded as James Lang made a break down the left and the ball was worked further wide for Savala to touch down.

Bennett nailed a touchline conversion and further Edinburgh pressure paid off as Graham hit the ball at pace and arced around the defence for his first try. With Bennett again adding the extras, Edinburgh trailed just 15-14 at the interval.

The Bulls started the second period strongly and extended their advantage when Hendricks raced over out wide for another Smith-converted try after Ruan Nortje had been held up.

Edinburgh pulled another try back in fortuitous circumstances after a Bennett penalty attempt struck the upright. Graham was the first to react to the rebound and pounced for his second try.

A Smith penalty gave the Bulls more breathing space, but Graham cut the gap back to one again as he sped over after brilliant handling by Bill Mata and Immelman.

Edinburgh began to sense their chance, but the Bulls broke out after a long spell under pressure, with Jacobs stretching out to score.

Yet again Edinburgh were not finished and a slick move created the opening for Hoyland to score. With Bennett converting, the visitors led for the first time.

Immelman missed a penalty chance to extend the lead, but Steyn made no mistake when he got the chance after an infringement at a maul.

The drama was not over, but Immelman could not punish Jacobs for his high shot on Bennett.

John Cooney stars as Ulster win thrilling clash

Scrum-half John Cooney scored 30 points as Ulster beat Scarlets 55-39 in a 12-try thriller at Parc y Scarlets.

The Irish province always had the edge but Scarlets challenged them throughout, although their cause was not helped by yellow cards for Sam Costelow and Vaea Fifita.

Cooney scored two tries, Alan O’Connor, Martin Moore, Marcus Rea, Billy Burns and Tom O’Toole the others with Cooney converting all seven and adding two penalties.

Dafydd Hughes crossed twice for Scarlets while Jonathan Davies, Ryan Conbeer and Fifita were also on the try-scoring sheet.

Costelow converted three of them and kicked a penalty with Rhys Patchell adding a penalty and a conversion.

Stormers too strong for Connacht

Bundee Aki was sent off as Connacht suffered a 38-15 defeat to defending United Rugby Championship winners the Stormers in Stellenbosch.

Ireland international Aki was penalised for a dangerous clearout midway through the second half, extinguishing any hope of a fightback from the Irish province.

Evan Roos touched down early for the hosts and, though they could not add another try before the break, they took a 13-8 lead into half-time thanks to the kicking of Manie Libbok, with Dylan Tierney-Martin going over for the visitors.

The Westerners were 19-8 down when Aki was given his marching orders and quickfire tries from Andre-Hugo Venter and Hacjivah Dayimani put the result beyond doubt, with Jack Aungier crossing for a late consolation.

Marcel Theunissen wrapped up the bonus point after the hooter.

Lions edge past Ospreys

Ospreys fly-half Jack Walsh missed a straightforward penalty three minutes from time as the Lions held on to claim a shock 28-27 victory in Swansea.

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The home side seemed in control for most of the United Rugby Championship clash and outscored their opponents by four tries to three but the resilient Lions hung in to claim the decisive score eight minutes from the end through Edwill Van Der Merwe’s converted try.

Francke Horn and Sanele Nohamba also crossed for the South African side with Gianni Lombard kicking three penalties and two conversions.

Keelan Giles scored two tries for Ospreys while Dewi Lake and Rhys Webb were also on the scoresheet, with Walsh adding a penalty and two conversions.