United Rugby Championship defending champions Leinster start the new season in South Africa where their first action comes against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday
Lions vs Leinster, Saturday 26th September, Johannesburg, KO 13:30 (South African time)
Referee: Ben Breakspear (WRU, 21st league game)
Assistant Referees: Hanru van Rooyen (SARU) and Jonathan Lottering (SARU)
TMO: Craig Evans (WRU)
Weather Forecast - Johannesburg
Lions:
In the 2025/26 URC the Lions finished seventh on the log with a record of 10 wins, 1 draw and 7 defeats. In the first round of play offs they crashed and burned away to their opponents here Leinster 59-10. Leinster had also beat the Lions 31-7 in Round 17, also at the Aviva Stadium.
The Lions pre-season included a RGR tour match against the All Blacks at Ellis Park, that came in between the first and second test matches with the Boks and New Zealand came out on top 41-35.
After this the Lions host the Ospreys and then visit the Bulls in Round 3. They will then travel to Scotland for Rounds 4 and 5 for games against Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors. In the outright betting to win the URC title Sportingbet have the Lions priced up as 33/1 shots
Leinster:
Leinster are the defending champions after they bounced back from losing the Champions Cup final to Bordeaux a week earlier by putting the Bulls away 36-7 in a Dublin final. They also beat the Stormers in the semi-finals and the Lions in the quarters.
Leinster had finished as runners up to Glasgow Warriors at the end of the previous URC regular season with a record of 12 wins and 6 defeats. In South Africa at the start of the that campaign an under strength side were thumped 35-0 by the Stormers in Cape Town and a week later they lost to the Bulls (39-31) at Loftus.
Next week Leinster will be in Durban to take on the Sharks and in the outright betting to retain the URC title Sportingbet have them topping the boards at 11/8.
Line Ups:
Lions: 15 Boeta Chamberlain 14 Kelly Mpeku 13 Henco van Wyk 12 Richard Kriel 11 Erich Cronje 10 Chris Smith 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horn (captain) 7 Batho Hlekani 6 Siba Mahashe 5 Ruan Delport 4 Etienne Oosthuizen 3 Sebastian Lombard 2 PJ Botha 1 Boan Venter
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 JC Pretorius, 21 Siba Qoma, 22 Zian Cilliers, 23 Ethan Adam
Leinster: 15 Todd Lawlor, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Hugh Cooney, 12 Charlie Tector, 11 Andrew Osborne, 10 Caspar Gabriel, 9 Fintan Gunne, 8 Josh Ericson, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Max Deegan (c), 5 Conor O’Tighearnaigh, 4 Ryan Baird, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 Gus McCarthy, 1 Alex Usanov.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Smyth, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Niall Smyth, 19 Brian Deeney, 20 Dylan McNeice, 21 Oliver Coffey, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Ciarán Mangan
The Betting,
Updated 26 Sep 09h57
Lions -4.5 points
Leinster +5.5 points
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Bet: Lions v Leinster
Posted 26 September 10h20
2 units (1–5): Lions -4.5 at 0.88/1 with PokerBet
Lions +6.5 was available before the teams were announced. Having missed that early line, it is difficult to reset without feeling that the boat has sailed.
The total points line of 57.5 looks fairly well set and conditions look good. I think this Lions team can open with a win, and I’m backing them to do so by five points or more.
For more URC bets keep an eye on this blog
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