There are two SA derby matches on the coupon for the final round of the United Rugby Championship regular season, the first of which sees the Stormers take on the Lions in Cape Town in Saturday's early kick off.
Stormers v Lions, Saturday 1st June, Cape Town, KO 13:45 (South African time)
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa) and Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa)
TMO: Christi du Preez (South Africa)
Weather Forecast – Cape Town
Stormers:
The Stormers edged out Connacht 16-12 in Galway in their final tour match two weeks ago but they remain fifth on the log and can finish no higher than that. The Stormers have a URC record of 11 wins and 6 defeats, a play off spot is secured but they will be travelling in the quarter finals.
Their only home defeat defeat this season came against the Ospreys when they went down 27-21 and earlier SA derby matches in Cape Town delivered narrow wins over the Bulls (26-20) and the Sharks (16-15). On the road the Stormers beat the Sharks 25-21 in Durban but lost 40-22 to the Bulls at Loftus.
The first clash with the Lions came in the opening round in Johannesburg and the Stormers had to survive a Lions fightback to cling on to a 35-33 victory. They led 27-7 at half time and were 32-7 to the good at one stage in the second half before the Lions late rally came up just short.
In the outright betting the Stormers are priced at 96/10 to win the URC title with BoyleSports
Lions:
The Lions are in ninth spot with a record of 9 wins and 8 defeats and they need another win here to claim one of the 2 remaining play off spots. Given the Lions have the same number of points as Edinburgh and Benetton who play each other in the final round, any sort of victory will do but it's also possible that a bonus point win could take the Lions as high as seventh and Champions Cup rugby next season if other results to go their way.
Last time out the Lions were 44-21 winners over Glasgow Warriors in Johannesburg, one of their best performances of the season given they played more than half the game with 14 men and a bonus point strengthens their hand further.
Aside from their loss to the Stormers in Round 1, earlier SA derby matches saw the Lions win 20-18 away to the Sharks and they lost 30-28 to the Bulls at Loftus. The return fixtures at Ellis Park saw the Bulls win 25-10 and the Lions thumped the Sharks 40-10.
In the outright betting the Lions are 70/1 shots to win the tournament with BoyleSports
Team News
Stormers: 15 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Evan Roos, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Sti Sithole
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 23 Ben Loader
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Jordan Hendrikse, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Willem Alberts (c), 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Morgan Naude
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Reinhard Nothnagel, 21 Izan Eseterhuizen, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Gianni Lombard
The Betting,
Stormers -6.5 points at 9/10
Lions +6.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
The Lions can qualify for the last 8 with a win here so will be up for this. The Stormers need a win to guarantee they finish 5th but they may well still do so with a bonus point loss as Ulster are big underdogs to Munster later in the day.
Having had a close look at the team sheets I think the Stormers will be too strong at home and will back them to beat the handicap.
The points line is 53.5 and having initially been leaning unders I am switching sides. The weather looks great and with an early kick off I think we are in for a game with plenty of action and hopefully plenty of points. I am taking the slightly lesser price and over 52.5.
BET: 4 units over 53.5 points at 17/20 at Sportingbet
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.
