Johannesburg — THE Bulls provided the only ray of light in a dismal weekend for South African rugby in the Super 14, as the Sharks, Lions, Cheetahs and Stormers were dealt further knocks to their campaigns.

In what proved to be a grand finale to a grim weekend for local fans, the Bulls staged a comeback from 17-0 down against the Waratahs at Loftus Versfeld for a hard-earned 48-38 win.

The victory in the thrilling encounter was their third bonus- point win in as many weeks and allowed them to retain the top spot on the log as the only team to have registered bonus points in every game.

The Stormers, denied their third straight win after a heartbreaking 19-17 defeat against the Brumbies at Newlands, are not far back, with the team camping out in fifth place.

But the most shameful sight has to be the star-studded Sharks occupying joint 12th spot on the log with two bonus points to show for their efforts. This followed another dent to their campaign on Friday when they were thumped 35-6 by the desperate Crusaders in Christchurch.

With clashes against the Waratahs, Brumbies, Highlanders and Hurricanes to follow on tour, it could take a miracle for the 2007 finalists to hike back up the log table and work their way into contention for a semifinal berth.

The Lions, meanwhile, were bashed 33-18 by the in-form Hurricanes in Wellington, while the Cheetahs' inability to capitalise on a few golden try-scoring chances came at the cost of a 31-24 defeat against the Highlanders in Bloemfontein. Fortunately for coach Naka Drotske, they clung on in the dying minutes for a consolation bonus point.

Given the bitterness among SA's coaches, Bulls coach Frans Ludeke and captain Victor Matfield were understandably delighted with their win, but conceded they have been complicating matters for themselves by allowing the opposition to take control early on.

The Bulls trailed the Cheetahs, Brumbies and Waratahs respectively before charging into the lead for convincing wins.

"Every week we start with soft moments by giving the opposition chances in our half and, once they are there, it is difficult to keep them out," Matfield said. "We won't always come back from 17-0 down, but credit to the guys for doing it against the Waratahs."

While it was a brave team effort that earned them the win, Springbok flyhalf Morné Steyn and the tough Bulls pack deserve a special mention for their heroics throughout the clash.

Despite Ludeke's satisfaction with the result, he admitted there were areas they needed to improve for the team to defend their title. He also played down the favourites tag and said it was still early days in the series.

"I am not complaining about three out of three with bonus points," he said. "We are definitely reaping the rewards from all the hard work in the preseason.

"But there are specific areas we need to improve and we can be smarter from a tactical perspective. The breakdown is one of those areas because we have given away too many penalties there."

Ludeke, however, proudly called their second-half display the "most clinical" yet and said if they continued to apply such pressure on the opposition and maintain the intensity that dealt the killer blow to the Waratahs' hopes of creating an upset at Loftus, they would be an even greater threat.

Stormers coach Allister Coetzee, meanwhile, experienced mixed emotions following their narrow two-point defeat after a missed conversion. He said although he was pleased with his team's display, they had let themselves down. "The game could have gone either way until the final minute, even with the mistakes we made.

"But we will take the positives from it and move on. One defeat does not mean we need to panic. We may have stumbled, but the good thing is that it happened early in the series. We now have to make sure we remain on course and avoid mistakes like trying to play too much in our own half and being impatient on attack."

Fortunately for Coetzee, captain Schalk Burger and prop Wicus Blaauw will be back from injury this week.

In the overseas games, the Blues beat the Reds 27-18 and the Chiefs thumped the Western Force 37-19.