The Bulls are the first South African side in action in Round 5 of the United Rugby Championship when they face a tough test away to Glasgow Warriors on Friday
Glasgow Warriors v Bulls, Friday 24th October, Glasgow, KO 20:45 (South African time)
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Ru Campbell (Scotland)
TMO: Keith David (Wales)
Weather Forecast - Glasgow
Glasgow Warriors:
The Warriors have 3 wins and 1 defeat against their name and can be found in third place in the standings with 16 log points, 3 points off the pace being set by the Stormers and Munster.
In Round 4 they came away from the Ospreys with a 42-17 victory, scoring 6 tries to 2 to land a bonus point. Earlier home games delivered a 35-19 win over the Sharks and a 49-0 demolition of the Dragons in Round 3. In between those wins their only defeat so far came away at Benetton, 16-14 in Round 2.
They now renew rivalry with the Bulls who they beat in the 2023/24 Grand Final (21-16) at Loftus. At home to the Bulls last season the Warriors lost 26-19 in Round 16.
After the international break the Warriors visit the Scarlets and then have back to back derby matches against Edinburgh and they are not due in South Africa until Rounds 15 and 16 for games against the Lions and the Stormers.
In the outright betting to win the URC title Glasgow Warriors are 10/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Bulls:
The Bulls have also won 3 and lost 1 of their first 4 matches which have seen them earn 14 log points and they can be found in sixth position in the standings.
In Round 4 they edged out Connacht (28-27) in Galway, scoring 3 tries and conceding 4 and they dodged a bullet with Connacht missing the conversion of the final try of the game which would have given them victory.
In earlier results the Bulls went into their first tour match against Ulster in Round 3 in Belfast at the top of the standings but they slipped to a 28-7 defeat. In the first two rounds it was raining tries at Loftus as the Bulls secured bonus point wins over the Ospreys (53-40) and Leinster (39-31).
After this the Bulls will return to SA to prepare for a series of SA derby matches which start at the end of November.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls are the shortest price of the South African sides at 9/2 second favourites with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Steyn (captain), 13 Stafford McDowall, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Kyle Rowe, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Matt Fagerson, 6 Gregor Brown, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Max Williamson, 3 Murphy Walker, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 Seb Stephen, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Alex Samuel, 20 Alex Craig, 21 Euan Ferrie, 22 Ben Afshar, 23 Dan Lancaster
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Keagan Johannes, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Ruan Nortje (captain), 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Juann Else, 17 Etienne Janneke, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 JJ Theron, 20 Nama Xaba, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Kurt-Lee Arendse
The Betting,
Average early show
Glasgow Warriors -10.5 points at 9/10
Bulls +10.5 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 Round 5 of the URC will be available 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.