The Bulls host Bristol Bears in Champions Cup Pool 4 at Loftus on Saturday and after losing their first two matches the home side are in desperate need of a win.
Bulls v Bristol Bears, Saturday 10th January, Pretoria, KO 15:00 (South African time)
Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra)
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Rozier (Fra), Benjamin Hernandez (Fra)
TMO: Denis Grenouillet (Fra)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
This is a Pool 4 clash and coming into the third of the four rounds Northampton Saints and Bordeaux have 10 points and Bristol Bears are on their heels in third place with 9. The Scarlets and the Bulls have earned just the 1 point and Section Paloise have yet to earn a point.
The Bulls are in some trouble after losing 46-33 at home to defending champions Bordeaux in the opening round before being dealt a 50-5 hiding off the Saints in Northampton.
Their URC campaign is also floundering. They lost 21-12 away to the Sharks before Christmas and last weekend they went down 13-8 to the Stormers in Cape Town. The Bulls are currently eleventh on the URC log and all of 12 points off a top 4 spot. They are also bottom of the South Africa Shield.
After this the Bulls final pool match is away to Section Paloise and to win the Champions Cup title this season the Bulls are now 100/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Bristol Bears:
The Bears have won both their matches so far, edging out the Scarlets 17-16 in Wales in the opening round before thrashing Section Paloise 61-12 in Bristol in Round 2.
Bristol have been going well in the Gallagher Premiership, fourth in the standings with a record of 7 wins and 2 defeats. Over Christmas and New Year they won 40-14 away at Harlequins and then beat Newcastle (36-27) and Sale Sharks (19-17) in home fixtures.
After this the Bears wrap up their pool stage campaign at home to Bordeaux and in the outright betting to win the tournament they are 80/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Voster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje (captain), 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Mpilo Gumede, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Sergeal Petersen
Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Noah Heward, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Bill Mata, 7 Fitz Harding (c), 6 Santiago Grondona, 5 Joe Batley, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 3 George Kloska, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Max Lahiff.
Bench: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Jimmy Halliwell, 19 Joe Owen, 20 Benjamin Grondona, 21 Harry Randall, 22 Sam Worsley, 23 Matias Moroni
The Betting,
Average early show
Bulls -14.5 points at 9/10
Bristol Bears +14.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Brent Graham's betting angle and plays for this weeks Champions Cup matches will be posted on this Blog.
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.