The Stormers head overseas to Leicester for their opening European Champions Cup clash against the Tigers on Sunday and the visitors are very much the underdogs with the bookmakers.
Leicester Tigers v Stormers, Sunday 10th December, Leicester, KO 17:15 (South African time)
Referee: Tual Trainini (Fra)
Assistant Referees: Adrien Marbot (Fra) , Evan Urruzmendi (Fra)
TMO: Cédric Marchat (Fra)
Weather Forecast – Leicester
Leicester Tigers:
Leicester boast Handre Pollard in their ranks and they are currently seventh of ten in the Gallagher Premiership standings with a record of 4 wins and 4 defeats.
In last season's Champions Cup they won 3 and lost 1 of their pool matches before beating Edinburgh in a Round of 16 home fixture before their journey ended with a quarter final defeat away to Leinster.
After this Leicester will visit Stade Francais and Stade Rochelle before they finish up at home to Leinster
In the outright betting to win the Champions Cup the Tigers are 28/1 shots with BoyleSports
Stormers:
The Stormers have been below par in the current United Rugby Championship campaign. Although they beat Zebre 31-7 in a home fixture last weekend and started with a derby win away to the Lions and a home victory over the Scarlets they lost all 4 of their tour matches at Glasgow, Benetton, Munster and Cardiff and they are no higher than tenth in the standings.
In last season's Champions Cup the Stormers also won 3 and lost 1 of their pool matches before edging out Harlequins in Cape Town in the Round of 16. Like Leicester they bowed out in the quarter finals with a heavy defeat away to Exeter.
After this the Stormers will host Stade Rochelle and Sale Sharks before they finish up away to Stade Francais
In the outright betting to win the Champions Cup the Stormers are priced at 18/1 with BoyleSports
Team News
Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Josh Bassett, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Cameron Henderson, 4 Ollie Chessum, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Julián Montoya (c), 1 Francois van Wyk
Replacements: 16 Archie Vanes, 17 James Cronin, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Kyle Hatherell, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Dan Kelly
Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 12 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Hendre Stassen, 3 Brok Harris (captain), 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Sti Sithole
Replacements: 16: JJ Kotze, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Dylan Sjoblom, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Cornel Smit
The Betting
Leicester -16.5 points at 9/10
Stormers +18.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
There has been big handicap movement on this game with Leicester opening -6.5 and pushing out to -12.5 where the market appears to have settled.
I am leaning Leicester on the minus but will wait for team news before putting up a bet.
Update: 15h40 08 December
With teams now announced there has been another big shift in the handicap with Leinster out to -18.5 in places. There is some -16.5 on offer locally and I think this is one of those situations where the bookies reaction is not big enough.
Bet: 5 units Leicester -16.5 at Pokerbet*
*Pokerbet are generally 1st to market with rugby points lines – click here to open an account
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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