The Stormers first action in the European Champions Cup sees them take on RC Toulon in Gqeberha on Saturday
Stormers v Toulon, Saturday 7th December, Gqeberha, KO 17:15 (South African time)
Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng)
Assistant Referees: Anthony Woodthorpe (Eng) , John Meredith (Eng)
TMO: Dean Richards (Eng)
Weather Forecast – Gqeberha
Stormers:
This is a Pool 4 clash and these two sides will have Glasgow Warriors, Racing 92, Sale Sharks and Harlequins for company.
In the current United Rugby Championship campaign the Stormers are finding it tough going with 2 wins and 4 defeats from their first 6 matches. They come into this game on the back of successive defeats at home to Glasgow Warriors (28-17) and a local derby loss away to the Sharks in Durban (21-15).
In the Champions Cup last season the Stormers were edged out 21-20 by La Rochelle in Cape Town in the Round of 16. They finished as runners up to Leinster in their pool with a record of 3 wins and 1 defeat.
After this the Stormers will head to London to take on Harlequins next week and when we resume in January they will host Sale Sharks and they finish up with a visit to Racing 92.
In the outright betting to win the Champions Cup the Stormers are priced at around 66/1 and they are 11/2 to top this pool
Toulon:
Toulon are currently fourth in the French Top 14 with 7 wins and 4 defeats against their name and they have won their last 3 matches, most recently at Perpignan (22-13).
In the Champions Cup pool stage last season they lost all 4 of their matches, at home to Exeter (19-18), away to Northampton (22-19), at home to Munster (29-18) and away to Glasgow (29-5).
In the outright betting to win the Champions Cup Toulon are trading at around 33/1 and they are 33/10 to top this pool
Team News
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Keke Morabe, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Neethling Fouche (c), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Louw Nel, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Seabelo Senatla
Toulon: 15 Marius Domon, 14 Gaël Drean, 13 Jérémy Sinzelle, 12 Mathieu Smaili, 11 Gabin Villiere, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Jules Coulon, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 5 David Ribbans (c), 4 Matthias Halagahu, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Teddy Baubigny, 1 Dany Priso
Replacements: 16 Mickael Ivaldi, 17 Daniel Brennan, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Brian Alainu’uese, 20 Yannick Youyoutte, 21 Enzo Herve, 22 Antoine Frisch, 23 Jiuta Wainiqolo
The Betting
Updated 07 Dec 09h17
Stormers -4.5 points at 9/10
RC Toulon +4.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 06 Dec 08h38
Toulon have bought a strong squad over albeit a couple of layers are missing. I think this will be a tight match and am leaning towards an away win at odds of around 18/100 to 2/1.
I am going to wait for the teams to be announced before getting involved.
Updated 07 Dec 09h17
The handicap has been stable since team announcements so there were no surprises there.
I am leaning towards a Toulon win here at a top price of 18/10 but once again find myself drawn to the points line.
Conditions look like being good and the stadium in Gqeberha is usually a track that is good for expansive rugby.
I am going over 46.5 here.
Click here for betting chat on this game from Thursday nights THE HANDICAP our rugby betting show.
BET: 4 units over 46.5 points at Pokerbet
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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