Defending champions Munster clash with the Glasgow Warriors in the second of Saturday's United Rugby Championship semi finals, Limerick is the venue and the home side start as the bookmakers favourites.
Munster v Glasgow Warriors, Saturday 15th June, Limerick, KO 19:00 (South African time)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assitant referees: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy) and Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
TMO: Matteo Lipirini (Italy)
Weather Forecast: - Limerick
Munster:
Munster were paired with the outsiders of the last 8 the Ospreys at this venue in the quarters and they came out on top 23-7. They led 17-7 at half time and scored 2 tries (Zebo and Scannell) to 1 and given they started in the region of 15.5 point favourites the bookmakers main handicap line was pretty accurate.
Munster topped the log at the end of the regular season with a record of 13 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats. Their tally of 68 log points was 2 better than the Bulls and 3 clear of Leinster and Glasgow and they beat the Warriors 40-29 in a Round 7 home fixture.
Last season Munster had to travel through the play offs, they came up against the Warriors in Glasgow in the quarters and won 14-5, they followed up with a 16-15 victory at Leinster in the semis and then beat the Stormers 19-14 in the final in Cape Town.
In the outright betting Munster are now 21/10 second favourites to win the tournament with BoyleSports
Warriors:
The Warriors ended the Stormers hopes of reaching a third successive final with a 27-10 victory in Glasgow in the quarters. They were 3.5 point favourites on the handicap line, led 6-0 at half time and went on to score 3 tries (Cancelliere, Venter, Thompson ) to 2.
The Warriors topped the log heading into the later rounds of the regular season but a couple of defeats on tour in South Africa saw them overhauled and they eventually finished fourth with a record of 13 wins and 5 defeats. It was tight and they were level with Leinster on points and just 3 behind Munster and 1 shy of the Bulls.
In matches against Irish opposition the Warriors beat Leinster (43-25) in an opening round home fixture and a week later they lost away to Connacht (34-26). In Round 6 they beat Ulster (33-20) in Glasgow before losing away to their opponents here (40-29).
The Warriors are priced at 87/10 to win the URC title with BoyleSports
Team News
Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Shane Daly, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Jack O’Donoghue, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne (c), 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Jeremy Loughman
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 John Ryan, 18 Oli Jager, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Gavin Coombes, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Seán O’Brien, 23 Alex Kendellen
Glasgow: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Kyle Steyn (c), 10 Tom Jordan, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Murphy Walker, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Euan Ferrie, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Ross Thompson
The Betting,
Munster -8.5 points at 9/10
Glasgow Warriors +8.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
I set this handicap at -8.5 and the bookies agreed and it has been rock-steady all week. If pushed I would be leaning towards the home team here, but I am going to bet that we get an attritional battle and will go low on points.
BET: 4 Units Under 49.5 points at 87/100 at Pokerbet*
*You can open a Pokerbet Account by clicking here
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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