After finishing as runners up in the United Rugby Championship last season the Bulls begin their campaign to go one better when they host the Ospreys at Loftus on Saturday
Bulls v Ospreys Saturday 27th September, Pretoria, KO 14:00 (South African time)
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
Assistant Referees: JD Jadezweni (South Africa), Dylen November (South Africa)
TMO: Peter Martin (Ireland)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
The Bulls have finished as URC runners up 3 times. In the 2024/25 regular season they won each of their last 6 in the URC and finished second on the log with an overall record of 14 wins and 4 defeats, 8 points behind Leinster and 6 points better off than the third placed Sharks. In the quarter finals they saw off Edinburgh and then the Sharks in the semis at Loftus but they failed to land a glove in Leinster in the final in Dublin which they lost 32-7
After this the Bulls host defending champions Leinster before they head off on tour to take on Ulster, Connacht and Glasgow Warriors.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls are the shortest price of the South African sides at 9/2 second favourites with Hollywoodbets
Ospreys:
The Opreys finished 12th on the og last season with a record of 7 wins, 1 draw and 10 defeats and their tally of 40 log point was 8 shy of a play off spot.
In 2024/25 at home to South Africa opposition in Round 2 the Ospreys came out on top 37-24 against the Stormers and in Round 4 they were beaten 29-19 by the Bulls. They went down 29-10 to the Sharks in Durban in Round 17 and were then edged out 29-29 by the Lions in Joburg in Round 18.
After this the Ospreys take on the Stormers in Cape Town before they return home. In the outright betting to win the URC title the Ospreys are 250/1 long shots with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 David Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Sebastian de Klerk, 10 Keagan Johannes, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 JJ Theron, 7 Mpilo Gumede, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Juann Else, 17 Alu Tshakweni, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Nicolas Janse van Rensburg, 20 Nama Xaba, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Willie le Roux
Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Phil Cokanasiga, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morse, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 James Fender, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Garyn Phillips
Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Steffan Thomas, 18 Rhys Henry, 19 Huw Sutton, 20 James Ratti, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Tom Florence, 23 Harri Houston
The Betting,
Average early show
Bulls -18.5 points at 9/10
Ospreys +18.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Brent Graham's betting angle and plays for Week 5 of the Rugby Championship will be posted on this Blog.
Likewise the Womens RWC Final bets will be posted in this blog
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.