South Africa's Bulls scored six tries to come back from a 19-point deficit and defeat the Jaguares from Argentina 43-34 in their Super Rugby clash at Loftus Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday.
The Bulls are already out of contention for the playoffs, but will be pleased with the hard-fought victory over the visiting Jaguares that ends the seven-match winning run of the South Americans. The Jaguares also failed to claim top spot in the South African conference and remain three points behind the table-topping Lions, with both teams having a single game remaining in the regular season.
The Argentine side remain in seventh position on the overall log though and victory over the Sharks in Durban next weekend will seal a quarterfinal place.
The Bulls scored their tries through centres John-Ben Kotze and Jesse Kriel, scrumhalf Embrose Papier, wing Jamba Ulengo (two) and lock Marco van Staden.
The Jaguares managed four tries of their own, scored by flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez, flank Pablo Matera (two) and scrumhalf Gonzalo Bertranou (two).
The visitors had two scores inside the opening five minutes as they made a clinical start to the game, as they have so often this season.
The first was a superb solo effort from Sanchez, who broke through some weak home defence to dot down, before turning architect for the second as his good run and mass to Matera saw the forward power over.
The Jaguares added a third score before the 20 minutes mark when Bertranou got the first of his two tries, darting through a gap in the Bulls defensive line to give his side a 19-0 lead. The home side finally managed to put the ball through some phases and build pressure, which led to their opening score by Kotze.
Papier finished off a good move for the Bulls to narrow the gap further, before Kriel put the hosts 21-19 in front at halftime as the Springbok centre scythed through the Argentine's defence.
After flyhalf Handre Pollard had extended the Bulls advantage with a penalty, the visitors grabbed the lead again as Bertranou profited from a Jaguares turnover and a fine run from fullback Emiliano Boffelli to dot down his second.
But the Bulls took control again just before the hour-mark with two more tries as first Ulengo went over in the corner and then Van Staden crashed through some weak tackles to add a fifth try for the hosts.
Wing Ulengo got his second in similar fashion to the first, the Bulls spreading the ball wide to create an overlap in the corner that opened up a 14-point gap on the scoreboard.
The Jaguares had the final say as Matera got his second try after the hooter, but a missed conversion from Boffelli meant they failed to pick up the losing bonus-point.