The Sharks have reached the European Challenge Cup semi finals and Clermont provide the opposition at Twickenham Stoop on Saturday
Sharks v Clermont, Saturday 4th May, Twickenham Stoop, KO 13:30 (South African time)
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), Matthew Carley (England)
TMO: Tom Foley (England)
Weather Forecast – Twickenham Stoop
Sharks:
The Sharks booked their semi final spot with a 36-30 victory over Edinburgh in Durban on 13th April whilst in the Round of 16 they thrashed Zebre Parma 47-3, also at Kings Park.
The Sharks started their Challenge Cup campaign with a 45-5 rout of Section Paloise in Durban but they couldn't follow up in the next round when they went down 32-29 in a derby clash with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein. They went on to complete a comfortable 38-7 home win over Oyonnax in Round 3 before beating the Dragons 29-3 in Newport to top Pool A by 5 points.
The Sharks early form in the URC was disastrous and they have subsequently focused on this competition. They have been in Europe over the last couple of weeks, rotating resources in a 21-10 defeat at Glasgow Warriors before beating the Scarlets 32-27 in Wales last weekend and they have won just 4 of their 15 URC matches.
Clermont:
Clermont are 3 time winners of this competition and they proved far to good for Ulster in a home quarter final, running out 53-14 winners. In the Round of 16 Clermont came up against South African opposition in the form of the Cheetahs and they were made to work hard for a 27-22 home win.
In the pool stage Clermont began with a 31-18 home win over Edinburgh before going down 28-17 at Gloucester. They bounced back with a 38-17 home win over the Scarlets before seeing off Black Lion 36-3 to finish as runners up, 2 points shy of Gloucester.
In the French Top 14 Clermont are in tenth position with a record of 9 wins, 2 draws and 11 defeats.
Team News
Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Lukhanyo Am (c), 12 Ethan Hooker, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 James Venter, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Gerbrandt Grobler, 20 Lappies Labuschagne, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Francois Venter
Clermont: 15 Alex Newsome, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Julien Heriteau, 12 George Moala, 11 Joris Jurand, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Baptiste Jauneau, 8 Fritz Lee (c), 7 Peceli Yato, 6 Marcos Kremer, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Giorgi Beria
Replacements: 16 Yohan Beheregaray, 17 Giorgi Dzmanashvili, 18 Cristian Ojovan, 19 Thibault Lanen, 20 Killian Tixeront, 21 Pita-Gus Sowakula, 22 Theo Giral, 23 Léon Darricarrere
The Betting
Sharks -1.5
Clermont +2.5
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
This match is being played at the Stoop in England so it is on neutral territory.
The Sharks will have plenty of South African support and the betting has been interesting to follow as the Sharks opened up slight favourites, only for Clermont to replace them, but now it seems the market has settled at Sharks -1.5. The Sharks have been in improved form of late, but they still don’t convince me and I am more than happy to take the best price I can on a Clermont win.
BET: 3 Units, Clermont win at 27/20 at WSB*
*Click hereto open your WSB account
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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