BKT United Rugby Championship wrap: Derby wins for Stormers and Benetton

DHL Stormers edged the Vodacom Bulls 26-20 in a tense South African derby in Cape Town that lifts the 2022 champions to seventh in the BKT United Rugby Championship.

The Stormers led for all-but 14 minutes of a match played in front of a crowd of 42,000 at DHL Stadium, with the kicking of Manie Libbok ultimately proving the difference.

The Springbok fly-half landed three penalties and two conversions on a flawless evening from the kicking tee, ensuring that the Bulls finished on the losing side despite outscoring with three tries to two.

Reinhardt Ludwig, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie crossed the whitewash for the Bulls, while Jean-Luc Du Plessis and Ruhan Nel touched down for the hosts.

Earlier, Benetton maintained their stranglehold on the Italian derby by dispatching Zebre 31-24.

A seventh successive victory in the fixture continues Benetton's superb start to the season, with their eight league matches producing six wins, a draw and only one defeat.

Zebre began strongly with Lorenzo Pani's early try and controlled the final quarter, when Jacopo Bianchi and Leonard Krumov touched down.

But outside of these periods their defence was breached far too easily as Bautista Bernasconi, Tommaso Menoncello, Jacob Umaga and the impressive Paolo Odogwu all scored tries for Benetton.