The Stormers clash with the Bulls in the URC in Cape Town on Saturday and the hosts are looking to extend their 100% record and retain top place on the log.
Stormers v Bulls, Saturday 3rd January, Cape Town, KO 18:30 (South African time)
Referee: Griffin Colby (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira (South Africa), Sean Muller (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Weather Forecast – Cape Town
Stormers:
Although the Stormers were not involved on Xmas weekend they finished Round 8 at the top of the standings with 7 wins from 7 and 32 log points, 2 more than Munster and Cardiff and 3 better off than Glasgow all of whom have played 1 game more.
In their most recent action on 20th December the Stormers had to work hard to see off the Lions 34-27 in Cape Town, adding another bonus point to their name.
The Stormers other home games so far came in the opening two rounds where they ran out 35-0 winners against Leinster and then 26-10 victors over the Ospreys. The next 4 matches were all overseas and the Stormers made short work of the Scarlets with a 34-0 victory followed by wins at Zebre (31-13), Benetton (31-16) and a huge victory at Munster (27-21) in Round 6.
After this the Stormers return to Champions Cup action. They have won their first 2 pool matches and will take on Harlequins next before hosting Leicester Tigers.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Stormers are now 4/1 second favourites with Hollywoodbets
Bulls:
The Bulls have won 3 and lost 4 of their first 7 matches which have seen them earn 15 log points and they can be found in tenth position in the standings, all of 14 points off a top 4 spot.
In Round 7 just before Xmas the Bulls went down 21-12 to the Sharks in Durban and a round earlier at the end of November and they were turned over by the Lions at Loftus (43-33).
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), their only other win came in Round 4 when they edged out Connacht (28-27) in Galway.
The Bulls will also return to Champions Cup action after this when they host Bristol Bears before they visit Section Paloise. and they are in some trouble after losing 46-33 at home to defending champions Bordeaux and then suffering a 50-5 hiding off the Saints in Northampton.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls have drifted to 15/2 with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Lukhanyo Vokozela, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Adré Smith, 20 Ruben van Heerden, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Jurie Matthee
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 David Kriel, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje (captain), 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Khuta Mchunu, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Reinhardt Ludwig, 21 Nizaam Carr, 22 Embrose Papier, 23.Devon Williams
The Betting,
Average early show
Stormers -8.5 points at 9/10
Bulls +8.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Brent will be adding all his Round 9 picks on this blog
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