Glasgow Warriors suffered a second successive defeat against Irish opposition as Munster claimed a 23-12 RaboDirect Pro12 win at Firhill.
Harlequins went top of the Premiership table with a 26-13 win over Northampton, while Sale beat London Irish 30-29 in the night's other game.
Leinster recorded their first win in this season's RaboDirect PRO12 with a 31-10 victory over the Newport Gwent Dragons at the RDS Arena.
Sale bounced back from their opening-day Premiership defeat at Worcester with a hard-fought 30-29 win over London Irish at Edgeley Park.
Harlequins moved top of the Premiership as another superb kicking performance by Nick Evans helped them to a 26-13 home win over Northampton.
The Lions kept their winning streak alive with an emphatic 41-25 victory over Griquas in a match that yielded nine tries and three yellow cards in Johannesburg on Friday.
The 2012 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International will kick-off in early February with a repeat of last year's semifinal match-ups.
Blue Bulls rugby player "Bees" Roux walked out of the Pretoria High Court a free man on Friday after being given a suspended sentence on charges of culpable homicide and drunken driving.
The Springbok Sevens team will get their pre-season preparation underway later this month with training matches against Chile and Argentina in Stellenbosch.
Bath summer signing Dave Attwood will make his Aviva Premiership debut for the club when they host Saracens on Saturday (kick-off 3.15pm).
Gloucester coach Bryan Redpath has dismissed talk of Worcester being relegation candidates ahead of Saturday's Kingsholm clash.
Exeter flanker Tom Johnson will notch up his 100th cap for the club when the Chiefs host Newcastle at Sandy Park on Saturday.
The All Blacks were given a bare pass mark by coach Graham Henry for the way they stumbled against Tonga before winding up 41-10 winners in their World Cup opener on Friday.
Marc Lievremont says France are taking the threat posed by Japan seriously as they prepare to open their World Cup Pool A campaign on Saturday.
The All Blacks got the seventh edition of the World Cup tournament off to a winning start on Friday, defeating Tonga 41-10 in front of a capacity 60,000 crowd at Eden Park.
