After losing their European Champions Cup opening match the Bulls next assignment comes against the team who knocked them out of last season's tournament when they take on Northampton Saints at Loftus on Saturday
Bulls v Northampton Saints, Saturday 14th December, Pretoria, KO 15:00 (South African time)
Referee: Luc Ramos (Fra)
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Rozier (Fra) , Adrien Marbot (Fra)
TMO: Thomas Charabas (Fra)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
The Bulls began their Champions Cup campaign against Saracens last week, they started as underdogs, given around 5.5 points start on the main handicap line and that wasn't enough as they went down 27-5. The Bulls only trailed 8-5 at half time but they had a gale force wind behind them and they conceded 3 tries in the second half (4 in total) and left London empty handed.
In the Champions Cup last season the Bulls followed up the home win over Saracens with a defeat in Lyon (29-28), victory away at Bristol Bears (31-17) and a 46-40 home win over Bordeaux. In the Round of 16 they put Lyon away (59-19) at Loftus but in the quarter finals away to Saturday's opponents Northampton Saints they crashed and burned (59-22).
Each team plays 4 pool matches and when we resume in January the Bulls visit Castres and finish up at home to Stade Francais.
In the outright betting to win the Champions Cup the Bulls are priced at around 18/1
Northampton Saints:
The Saints began with a 38-8 home win over Castres last weekend. They led 14-3 at half time and scored 6 tries in total (including 2 for Juarno Augustus) to go top of Pool 3 on points difference ahead of Munster and Saracens who were also bonus point winners in the opening round.
Northampton are currently eighth in the English Premiership with a record of 3 wins and 4 defeats
Last season the Saints won all 4 pool matches on their way to thrashing the Bulls in the quarter finals before they were edged out away to Leinster (20-17) in the semi's.
In January the Saints will visit Stade Francais and they finish up at home to Munster and in the outright betting to win the Champions Cup they are trading at around 25/1.
Team News
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 David Kriel, 11 Devon Williams, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw (c), 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 JF van Heerden, 3 Wilco Louw, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp
Replacements: 16 Jan-hendrik Wessels, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Deon Slabbert, 20 Kuyenzeka Nama Xaba, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Stedman Gans
Northampton: 15 George Furbank (c), 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Henry Pollock, 6 Alex Coles, 5 Tom Lockett, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 3 Elliot Millar-Mills, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun
Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Chunya Munga, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Tom Pearson, 22 Archie McParland, 23 George Hendy
The Betting
Updated 14 Dec 07h36
Bulls -10.5 points at 9/10
Northampton Saints +10.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 13 Dec 16h25
The handicap has been stable at Bulls -10.5 points this week. I am going to wait for total and team points lines to be released before pacing my bet.
Posted 14 Dec 07h46
The points line is 58.5 which is about 3 points more than I was hoping for. Conditions should be good although a thundershower is possible and the quote is just a bit high to tempt me.
Looking at the teams it is clear the Saints have come here meaning business. The Bulls also have a strong side but I wonder what last weeks loss to Saracens may have taken out of them morale wise. They may also be quietly starting to think of next weeks big URC match in Durban.
I think the Saints beat this cap and give them a real shout of winning the game.
Bet: 5 units Northampton +10.5 at 10/11 at Sportingbet
Bet: 1 unit Northampton win at 7/2 at Pokerbet
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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