The Lions bid to make it two wins from two when they host the Ospreys in Johannesburg in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday
Lions vs Ospreys, Saturday 3rd October, Johannesburg, KO 13:45 (South African time)
Referee: Fillipo Russo (FIR)
Assistant Referees: Griffin Colby (SARU), Dylen November (SARU)
TMO: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
Weather Forecast - Johannesburg
Lions:
The Lions opened their URC season at home to Leinster last week and they were major movers in the market, opening up at +6.5 points on the bookmakers main handicap line and by kick off time they were 3.5 point favourites. As it transpired that market confidence was justified as the Lions came out on top 27-26 although they were 19-17 down at half time and Leinster scored 4 tries to the Lions 3. Cronje (twice) and Mpeku scored the Lions tries, all converted by Smith who also landed 2 penalties.
With no bonus point the Lions are 1 log point behind the 5 teams who earned all 5 available points in Round 1. After this the Lions 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 Hollywoodbets have the Lions priced up as 33/1 shots
Ospreys:
The Ospreys started their URC season in Durban against the Sharks last week and they went down 41-24, a margin of defeat greater than the bookmakers main handicap line which had seen the Ospreys start at around 12.5 point underdogs. The Sharks led 28-14 at half time but despite conceding 5 tries the Ospreys managed 4 of their own through Morgan, Parry, Wright and Hopkins to come away with a bonus point.
When these teams met in Bridgend last season the game ended in a 24- 24 draw. The last time the Ospreys visited Johannesburg came in May 2025 and they were edged out 29-28.
In the outright betting to win the URC title Hollywoodbets have them trading at 200/1
Line Ups:
Lions: 15 Boeta Chamberlain, 14 Kelly Mpeku, 13 Ethan Adams, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Erich Cronje, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Siba Qoma, 6 JC Pretorius, 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 Siba Mahashe, 21 Dylan Sjoblom, 22 Morne van den Berg, 23 Quan Horn
Ospreys: 15 Iestyn Hopkins, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles (co-captain), 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Morgan Morse, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 Liam Wright (co-captain), 5 Ryan Smith, 4 Huw Sutton, 3 Rhys Henry, 2 Efan Daniel, 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Cam Jones, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Rhys Davies, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Lawson Creighton, 23 Luke Morgan
The Betting,
Average early show
Lions -10.5 points at 9/10
Ospreys +10.5 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.