Llanelli is the next stop for the Bulls who bid to continue their United Rugby Championship play off push against the Scarlets on Saturday
Scarlets v Bulls, Saturday 25th April, Llanelli, KO 20:45 (South African time)
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Lloyd Edwards (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)
Weather Forecast - Llanelli
Scarlets:
The Scarlets are third from bottom of the standings with a record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 10 defeats and with 23 log points they are well short of threatening a play off place.
Last week they lost 28-24 at home to Cardiff and a round earlier they went down 36-19 at Leinster. The scarlets last win came in Round 13, 36-17 at home to Zebre.
Earlier matches against South African sides saw the Scarlets go down 34-0 at home to the Stormers in Round 3 before they headed to SA where they lost 29-18 at the Lions and 29-19 at the Sharks.
After this the Scarlets finish up with derby matches away to the Ospreys and at home to the Dragons.
Bulls:
After last week’s results the Bulls remained in eighth position in the standings with 9 wins alongside 6 defeats. They have 45 log points, just1 point better off than ninth placed Connacht but looking up they are only 3 points behind the fourth placed Lions and their chances of landing a home play off are very much alive.
Last week the Bulls thrashed the Dragons 47-7 in Newport, scoring 7 tries to pick up a bonus point. In other recent URC matches against Welsh opposition the Bulls hosted Cardiff in Round 13 and they came through with a 40-7 bonus point win. They also beat the Ospreys 53-40 at Loftus in the opening round.
After this the Bulls finish up at home to Zebre and Benetton and in the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls are 7/1 with Hollywoodbets
Line Ups:
Scarlets: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Callum Woolley, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Eddie James, 11 Macs Page, 10 Joe Hawkins, 9 Dane Blacker, 8 Fletcher Anderson (c), 7 Jarrod Taylor, 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Max Douglas, 4 Sam Lousi, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias.
Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Josh Morse, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Jac Price, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, 23 Ioan Jones
Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 Ruan Nortjé, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Marco van Staden, 17 Jan Hendrik Wessels, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Mpilo Gumede, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Willie le Roux, 23 Jeandré Rudolph
The Betting,
Average early show
Scarlets +11.5 points at 9/10
Bulls -11.5 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 Round 16 of the URC will be available on Brent Graham's betting blog which is available here.
Plays for Round 11 of Super Rugby will be 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.