The Bulls head to Newport to take on the Dragons in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday, the visitors are in good form and will start as firm favourites with the bookmakers.
Dragons v Bulls, Saturday 23rd March, Newport, KO 21:35 (South African time)
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Ben Breakspear (Wales), Elgan Williams (Wales)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)
Weather Forecast - Newport
Dragons:
The Dragons have won 2 and lost 9 of their matches so far and at the end of Round 11 they were second bottom on the log with 11 log points.
The Dragons lost their first 4 matches of the tournament before opening their win account in Round 5 when they saw off the Ospreys 20-5 in a home derby fixture. Their only other victory came in Round 9 when they edged out the Scarlets 13-12 in another home game.
The Dragons were in Durban in Round 6 for a clash with the Sharks and they were never in the contest, conceding 10 tries and crashing to a 69-14 defeat. A round later they went down 49-24 to the Lions in Johannesburg.
When hosting the Bulls last season the Dragons went down 29-14.
In the outright betting you can name your own price about the Dragons winning the tournament
Bulls:
The Bulls snapped their recent losing streak against the Stormers with a 40-22 bonus point victory at Loftus in Round 11. They finished the round in second spot with a record of 8 wins and 3 defeats and their tally of 40 log points is 4 shy of leaders Leinster.
Two of the Bulls' 3 defeats this season came on tour early in the campaign, 26-19 at Ulster and 31-23 at Edinburgh but they did win away to Zebre (54-29) and Cardiff (18-12).
One earlier match against Welsh opposition saw the Bulls thrash the Scarlets 63-21 at Loftus in the opening round.
In the outright betting the Bulls are now 7/1 second favourites to win the tournament with BoyleSports who have Leinster at the top of the boards at around 11/20.
Team News
Dragons: 15 Cai Evans, 14 Ewan Rosser, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Steff Hughes (c), 11 Corey Baldwin, 10 Will Reed, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Taine Basham, 7 Sean Lonsdale, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 George Nott, 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 1 Rhodri Jones
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Rodrigo Martinez, 18 Luke Yendle, 19 Ben Carter, 20 Harri Keddie, 21 Aaron Wainwright, 22 Dane Blacker, 23 Jared Rosser
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Mpilo Gumede, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje (c), 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Reinhardt Ludwig, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Johan Goosen, 23 Devon Williams
The Betting,
Dragons +16.5 points at 9/10
Bulls -15.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
The money has come for the Bulls with the handicap out from -12.5 to -16.5.
They have named a strong team and look the business but the cap looks about right now as does the total points line of 56.5.
At this stage just a winning margin play for me and any points bets will be posted in the forum
BET: 2 units Bulls by 11-20 points at 5/2 at Betxchange
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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