After a cracking win against Irish opposition last week the Lions now face another title contender when they take on Munster in the United Rugby Championship in Johannesburg on Saturday
Lions v Munster, Saturday 27th April, Johannesburg, KO 17:00 (South African time)
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs (South Africa) and Dylen November (South Africa)
TMO: Adam Jones (Wales)
Weather Forecast – Johannesburg
Lions:
Log leaders Leinster fielded a weakened side for last week's clash with the Lions in Johannesburg and although the pre-match betting suggested a close contest was in store the Lions coasted to a 44-12 victory.
Although the Lions remained in eleventh place with a record of 7 wins and 7 defeats, they are only 3 log points behind fifth placed Benetton so the scramble for play off spots is well and truly on.
In Round 12 the Lions put in a terrific shift to come away from Galway with a 38-14 bonus point win over Connacht and one other match against Irish opposition saw the Lions go down 24-17 at Ulster in Round 5.
In the outright betting the Lions are 71/1 shots to win the tournament with BoyleSports
Munster:
Defending champions Munster were given around 10.5 points start on the handicap for last week's clash with the Bulls at Loftus and they didn't need any of it as they came away with a 27-22 victory. Munster leapfrogged the Bulls to go third in the standings and their record of 9 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats puts them 5 points behind Glasgow and 6 shy of Leinster.
Munster are on a 5 match winning streak in the URC whilst earlier in the tournament they completed home wins over the Sharks (34-21) and the Stormers (10-3).
In the outright betting Munster are 7/1 second favourites to win the tournament with BoyleSports who make Leinster 0.57/1 favourites.
Team News
Lions: 15 Jordan Hendrikse, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Morgan Naudé.
Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 JP Smith, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Ruan Venter, 21 Sibusiso Sangweni, 22 Nico Steyn, 23 Gianni Lombard
Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Seán O’Brien, 11 Shane Daly 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jack O’Donoghue, 7 Alex Kendellen, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne (captain), 4 RG Snyman, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Jeremy Loughman
Replacements: 16 Eoghan Clarke, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Oli Jager, 19 Tom Ahern, 20 Gavin Coombes, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Mike Haley
The Betting,
Lions +6.5 points
Munster -5.5 points
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 25 April 22h22
I set this handicap at Lions -3.5 in my Sunday night exercise so the +6.5 is tempting even against this impressive Munster side.
When I see a Total Points line of 50.5 in Joburg I cannot resist though and although the -52.5 we took last week only scraped in I am happy to go in again and expect this line to start closer to 55.5.
BET: 6 units over 50.5 points at 10/11 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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