Limerick is the venue for Saturday’s top of the table United Rugby Championship clash between Munster and the Stormers and coming into the game both sides boast a 100% record.
Munster v Stormers, Saturday 29th November, Limerick, KO 19:30 (South African time)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Cole (Ireland), Andrew Fogarty (Ireland)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)
Weather Forecast – Limerick
Munster:
Munster have won all 5 of their matches and they have 23 log points against their name, an identical record to their opponents here, the Stormers.
Their 3 home games have all been very close as Munster edged out Cardiff (23-20), Edinburgh (20-19) and most recently Connacht (17-15) whilst n their travels Munster have won at the Scarlets (34-21) and defending champions Leinster (31-14).
Last season Munster lost 34-19 to the Stormers in Cape Town in Round 5, they were also well beaten by the Sharks in Durban but in home fixtures against South African sides they beat the Lions (17-10) and lost to the Bulls (16-13). In the first knockout round they lost a shoot out to the Sharks in Durban after the sides could not be separated on the scoreboard.
We won’t see Munster in South Africa until Rounds 13 and 14 and in the outright betting to win the URC title they are 7/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Stormers:
The Stormers have 9 points more than the next best South African side the Bulls and their start to the season could hardly have gone better.
The Stormers tour matches this season have seen them win at the Scarlets (34-0), at Zebre (31-13) and most recently at Benetton (31-16). They started with two home wins, 35-0 against Leinster and then 26-10 over the Ospreys.
After the Stormers host the Lions and in the outright betting to win the URC title the Stormers are now 6/1 with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Munster: 15 Shane Daly, 14 Diarmuid Kilgallen, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 Jack O’Donoghue, 6 Tadhg Beirne (c), 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Tom Ahern, 3 John Ryan, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 1 Jeremy Loughman
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Ronan Foxe, 19 Edwin Edogbo, 20 John Hodnett, 21 Ethan Coughlan, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Dan Kelly
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Dylan Maart, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Ruhan Nel, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotzé, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Adré Smith, 20 JD Schickerling, 21 Ruan Ackermann, 22 Dewaldt Duvenage, 23 Clinton Swart
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The Betting,
Average early show
Munster -7.5 points at 9/10
Stormers +7.5 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 Week 6 of the United Rugby Championship and the international between Wales and South Africa 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.
