Saturday sees the Bulls host the Lions at Loftus in the only United Rugby Championship taking place this weekend and victory for either side would do them a power of good in terms of play off positions.
Bulls v Lions, Saturday 22nd February, Pretoria, KO 14:00 (South African time)
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Morne Ferreira (South Africa), Sean Muller (South Africa)
TMO: Egon Seconds (South Africa)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
The Bulls were 10.5 point favourites for last weekend's derby clash with the Sharks at Loftus but it didn't go to plan for the home side and the Sharks came away with a 29-19 victory. Johan Grobbelaar scored 2 of their 3 tries but the Bulls left the game empty handed.
In earlier SA derby matches the Bulls edged out the Stormers 33-32 in Cape Town, they beat the Lions 35-22 in Johannesburg and they went down 20-17 to the Sharks in Durban.
The Bulls have played 10 matches so far and they remain in third place with 35 log points but they are now 7 points behind Glasgow and 17 shy of Leinster who have both played 11. They have won 7 and lost 3 overall and in the outright betting to win the URC title they are 11/2 second favourites with WSB.
Lions:
The Lions started as 5.5 point favourites for last week's clash with the Stormers at Ellis Park and they covered the handicap with a 30-23 victory, scoring 3 tries to 2. Most of the damage was done in the first half with the Lions leading 24-6 at the interval and they snapped a 4 match losing streak in this competition.
In earlier SA derby matches the Lions lost 29-10 away to the Stormers and they also lost the first clash with the Bulls 35-22 at Loftus and they have still to meet the Sharks home and away in their next 2 matches.
The Lions have now won 5 and lost 4 of their first 9 games, they remain outside of the top 8 but only 4 points off a play off place and they have 1 and 2 games in hand on all the other sides. In the outright betting the Lions are 50/1 shots to win the URC title with WSB.
Team News
Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 David Kriel, 11 Canan Moodie, 10 Willie le Roux, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Mpilo Gumede, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig (captain), 6 Marco van Staden, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Keagan Johannes, 23 Sergeal Petersen
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Sibabalo Qoma, 21 Renzo du Plessis, 22 Nico Steyn, 23 Manuel Rass
The Betting
Updated 21 Feb 16h30
Bulls -7.5 points at 9/10
Lions +8.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 21 Feb 16h36
This handicap hasn't moved much this week and is very much where I set it.
Looking at the teams I don't see much between the sides and while I am waiting for points lines before nailing up my main bet I am going to have a nibble on the Lions to win the game. They don't have a good record against the Bulls but must be in a better frame of mind after last weeks games.
I will be back in the morning with final thoughts and likely a main bet.
BET: 2 units Lions win at 3.1/1 at Betxchange
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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