The Stormers face a tough test in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday when they take on the runaway leaders Leinster in Dublin.
Leinster v Stormers, Saturday 25th January, Dublin, KO 19:00 (South African time)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy) Eoghan Cross (Ireland) - ref change due to travel disruption
Assistant Referees: Chris Busby (Ireland), Jonathan Erskine (Ireland)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)
Weather Forecast – Dublin
URC BETTING BLOG – the rugby blog is opened Monday morning and Brent looks at the impact of 6 Nations handicaps, looks for early betting value and puts up a bet in each game – click here to access the URC Rond 10 Blog
CLICK HERE to get Brent’s Free Betting Newsletter focusing mainly on rugby.
Our regular rugby punters have their say in our forum, all welcome
Leinster:
Leinster came through their Champions Cup pool with 4 wins from 4 to finish 7 points clear of Stade Rochelle and Benetton. Over the course of the last couple of weeks they won 16-14 away to La Rochelle and then beat Bath 47-21 in a home fixture.
In the URC Leinster are 0.57/1 favourites to win the title and it's easy to see why given they have won 9 from 9, picking up 7 bonus points along the way and they finished the previous round 10 points clear at the top of the log.
Their only URC match against South African opposition this season came in Round 6 when they beat the Lions 24-6 in Dublin.
Stormers:
The Stormers finished bottom of their Champions Cup pool with 1 win and 3 defeats. They gave themselves a shout a qualifying in Round 3 with a 40-0 home win over Sale Sharks but that was followed by a 31-22 defeat away to Racing and their sole focus now is on the URC.
The Stormers finished the previous round of the URC in tenth position with 4 wins and 4 defeats for 21 log points, 1 shy of a play off spot but they have played 1 game fewer than the European sides.
The Stormers have generally found it tough going overseas. In the early rounds they lost at the Ospreys and at Edinburgh either side of a victory away to Zebre. They also went down 21-15 to the Sharks in Durban but have since revived their fortunes with home wins in the return with the Sharks and they also came out on top against the Lions last month.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Stormers are 20/1 shots.
Team News
Leinster: 15 Henry McErlean, 14 Andrew Osborne, 13 Liam Turner, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 James Lowe, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Max Deegan, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Alex Soroka, 5 Brian Deeny, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Dan Sheehan (c), 1 Jack Boyle
Replacements: 16 John McKee, 17 Paddy McCarthy, 18 Rory McGuire, 19 Diarmuid Mangan, 20 James Culhane, 21 Will Connors, 22 Cormac Foley, 23 Charlie Tector
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Jonathan Roche, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Wandisile Simelane
The Betting,
Updated 24 Jan 22h37
Leinster -10.5 points at 9/10
Stormers +10.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 24 Jan 09h47
This handicap started +14.5 Stormers but came in to +10.5 on the back of news that Leinster are missing loads of players to the Irish 6 Nations camp. I will wait to see the teams and points lines before placing a bet.
A reminder that our rugby betting show THE HANDICAP is live at 16h00 later today - click here to set a reminder
Bets on the 5 URC matches not featuring SA teams will be posted in the URC Round 10 blog
Posted 24 Jan 22h51
The teams have been announced and there are no surprises as evidenced by the fact the handicap has not budged.
We don't have a points line yet and I think the bookies are waiting to see what the weather does as there was even talk of the game being called off due to storm damage. The forecast looks cold with a chance of rain.
Saying the handicap has not budged is not 100% true though as there is some +12.5 Stormers on offer. They have clearly targeted this match resting a number of players last week and although Leinster still have some big names I can't see the likes of Sheehan and Lowe playing more than 50 minutes.
I fancy the Stormers to beat this handicap and possibly even win the game.
BET: 5 units Stormers +12.5 at 10/11 at Sportingbet
BET: 1 units Stormers win at 5/1 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Subscribe to our free weekly betting mailer which will include our best and value bets below.
