The Stormers are the first of the South African sides to open their United Rugby Championship campaign when they take on Connacht in Galway on Friday night.
Connacht v Stormers, Friday 25th September, Galway, KO 20:45 (South African time)
Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU, 63rd league game)
Assistant Referees: Eoghan Cross (IRFU) and Tomas O’Sullivan (IRFU)
TMO: David Sutherland (SRU)
Weather Forecast - Galway
Connacht:
In 2025/26 Connacht made up lots of ground in the second half of the campaign to finish in eighth place on the log with a record of 10 wins and 8 defeats. They travelled to Glasgow to take on the Warriors in the quarter finals where they lost 33-21.
Last season Connacht took on the Stormers in Cape Town and they pulled off a surprise win 33-24 whilst the previous four head to heads had all gone the way of the Stormers. Connacht did lose to the Bulls here last season (28-27) and they thrashed the visiting Sharks (44-17)
In the outright betting to win the URC title Sportingbet have Connacht as the biggest price of the Irish sides at 50/1.
Stormers:
The Stormers finished third in the URC standings last season with 60 points with an overall record of 12 wins, 5 losses, and 1 draw. In a home quarter final they beat Cardiff 44-21 but they bowed out at the semi final stage losing 20-11 to eventual title winners Leinster in Dublin.
Part of the Stormers preparations for the new URC season saw them host the All Blacks in the first action of the RGR tour and the Storrmers put up a gallant display in a 38-21 defeat.
After this the Stormers will visit Edinburgh before returning home for a Round 3 derby against the Sharks in Cape Town. In the outright betting to win the URC title Sportingbet have the Stormers priced up as fourth favourites at 9/2.
Line Ups:
Connacht: 15 Sam Gilbert, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 John Devine, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Finn Treacy, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Paul Boyle (c), 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Seán O’Brien, 5 Josh Murphy, 4 Niall Murray, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Eoin de Buitléar, 1 Francois van Wyk.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Victory, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Fiachna Barrett, 19 David O’Connor, 20 Max Flynn, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Seán Naughton, 23 Shayne Bolton.
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (c), 12 Jonathan Roche, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 André Warner, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Louw Nel, 6 Evan Roos, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Riley Norton, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Replacements: 16 Vernon Paulo, 17 Olly Reid, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Adré Smith, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Ezekiel Ngobeni, 23 Yaqeen Ahmed
The Betting,
Average early show
Connacht -3.5 points at 9/10
Stormers +3.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Bets:
Tips, more news and betting angles for the URC matches will be available on Brent Graham's betting blog which is available here.
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.
