The Bulls clash with last season title winners Union Bordeaux-Begles in their opening Champions Cup Pool 4 match at Loftus on Saturday and the pre-match betting suggests it will be a close contest.
Bulls v Union Bordeaux-Begles, Saturday 6th December, Pretoria, KO 17:15 (South African time)
Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (Eng), Joe James (Eng)
TMO: Ian Tempest (Eng)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
This a Pool 4 clash and these two sides have Bristol Bears, Northampton Saints, the Scarlets and Section Paloise for company.
In the URC the Bulls have had a very indifferent start. They lost 43-33 to the Lions at Loftus last weekend and their record of 3 wins and 3 defeats for 15 log points puts them in 8th position, 1 point and 1 place behind the Lions and 12 points adrift of the log leading Stormers.
After this Round 2 sees the Bulls head to Northampton to take on the Saints whilst in January they will host Bristol Bears and they finish up away to Pau.
Last season the Bulls lost their first three pool matches at Saracens, at home to Northampton and then at Castres. A win over Stade Francais saw them finish fifth in the pool and contest the Challenge Cup knockout rounds where they won at Bayonne in the Round of 16 before bowing out in the quarters away to Edinburgh.
To win the Champions Cup title this season the Bulls are 18/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Union Bordeaux-Begles:
In the Top 14 UBB have won 6 and lost 5 of their matches and they can be found in sixth position, 10 points adrift of Toulouse who set the pace. They have lost their last two Top 14 games, edged out at home to Section Paloise (34-33) and then away to Montpellier (28-24).
After this Bordeaux host the Scarlets and in Round 3 in January they are also at home to Northampton Saints before they finish the pool stage away to Bristol.
Last season UBB won all four of their pool matches including a 66-12 hiding of the Sharks in Bordeaux. In the Round of 16 they won at home to Ulster and then got the better of Munster and Toulouse in other home fixtures before a 28-20 win over Northampton Saints in the Grand Final in Cardiff.
To retain the Champions Cup title this season Union Bordeaux-Begles are 33/10 shots with Hollywoodbets who have Leinster and Toulouse joint favourites at 5/2
Team News
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Voster, 11 Sebastian de Klerk, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Marcell Coetzee (Captain), 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Alulutho Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Johann Grobberlaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Jeandre Rudolf, 22 Embrose Papier, 23 Stravino Jacobs
Union Bordeaux-Begles: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Lucu (c), 8 Temo Matiu, 7 Cameron Woki, 6 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Boris Palu, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Maxime Lamothe, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements 16 Gaetan Barlot, 17 Matis Perchaud, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Jonny Gray, 20 Tiaan Jacobs, 21 Arthur Retiere, 22 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 23 Salesi Rayasi
The Betting,
Average early show
Bulls -1.5 points at 9/10
Union Bordeaux-Begles +1.5 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.
