The Bulls begin their European Champions Cup campaign in London on Saturday when they take on Saracens
Saracens v Bulls, Saturday 7th December, London NW$, KO 19:30 (South African time)
Referee: Craig Evans (Wal)
Assistant Referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wal) , Keith David (Wal)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wal)
Weather Forecast – London NW4
Saracens:
This is a Pool 3 clash and these two sides will have Northampton Saints, Munster, Stade Francais and Castres for company
Saracens are currently fourth in the English Premiership with 4 wins and 3 defeats against their name and they are 5 points shy of log leaders Bath. They have lost 3 of their last 4 matches in that tournament, most recently going down 17-12 at Newcastle Falcons.
These teams also met in the Champions Cup pool stage last season and the Bulls won an opening round clash at Loftus 27-16. Saracens went on to win at home to Connacht (55-36), they lost in Bordeaux (55-15) and won at home to Lyon (39-24). They travelled to take on Bordeaux again in the Round of 16 where they went down 45-12.
In the outright betting to win the Champions Cup Saracens are trading at around 18/1 and they are 22/10 to top this pool
Bulls:
In the current United Rugby Championship campaign the Bulls are faring best of the South African sides, currently third with a record of 5 wins and 1 defeat. That puts them 3 points behind Glasgow and 10 shy of leaders Leinster but they do have a game in hand on the top 2. Their last 4 matches all came overseas and they got the better of the Ospreys, lost narrowly to the Scarlets and more recently they beat Benetton and Connacht.
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 Northampton they crashed and burned (59-22).
Each team plays 4 pool matches and after this the Bulls will host Northampton Saints at Loftus next week and when we resume in January they 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 15/1 and they are 14/10 to top this pool
Team News
Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Jamie George, 1 Rhys Carre
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Harry Wilson, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Tiff Eden, 23 Tom Parton
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 Cobus Wiese, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Johan Grobbelaar (captain), 1 Gerhard Steenekamp
Substitutes: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Marcell Coetzee, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 23 Harold Vorster
The Betting
Updated 07 Dec 10h12
Saracens -4.5 points at 9/10
Bulls +5.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 06 Dec 09h39
This handicap has been stable all week and it promises to be one of the matches of the weekend. I am leaning towards Saracens on the handicap but am going to hold fire until I see team news and also some points lines.
Updated 07 Dec 10h12
The handicap has been stable at Saracens -4.5 to -5.5 most of the week.
Looking at the sides I can see this being a close game although I am leaning Saracens to win it.
The points line is 44.5 and the weather will be poor and it is in this area where I will focus.
The Bulls points line is 19.5 and I am backing the poor conditions and Sarrcens D to keep them to 19 points or less.
Click here for betting chat on this game from Thursday nights THE HANDICAP our rugby betting show.
BET: 3 units Bulls under 19.5 points at Pokerbet
Then something a bit different.
I expect plenty of needle in this game and the Bulls have made a habit of picking up red cards
BET: 1 unit a red card in the game YES at 4/1 at Pokerbet
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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