Sunday’s United Rugby Championship action comes from Cape Town and on the back of a cracking win last week the Stormers will be looking to follow up in their home fixture against the Dragons.
Stormers v Dragons, Sunday 22nd March, Cape Town, KO 15:00 (South African time)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa), Sean Muller (South Africa)
TMO: Robbie Jenkinson (Ireland)
Weather Forecast – Cape Town
Stormers:
The Stormers have moved back up to second on the log and their record now comprises of 9 wins and 3 defeats for 41 log points. That puts them 4 points behind the leaders Glasgow Warriors and ahead of Ulster and Leinster on points difference.
After reeling off 8 straight wins at the start of the campaign the Stormers lost their next 3 games but they returned to the winners enclosure last week when they beat the Bulls 32-19 at Loftus, picking up a bonus point in the process.
Two earlier matches against Welsh sides saw the Stormers beat the Ospreys 26-10 in a Round 2 home fixture and they won 34-0 away to the Scarlets a week later.
The Stormers now have 4 home games including a clash with Glasgow in Round 16 before they finish the regular season overseas at Ulster and Cardiff.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Stormers are now 5/1 third favourites with Hollywoodbets with Leinster topping the boards at 19/20 and Glasgow Warriors are 4/1.
Dragons:
The Dragons finished the previous round third from bottom with aa record of 2 wins, 3 draws and 7 defeats and their total of 20 log points is 10 shy of a play off place.
Recent results include a 15-15 draw at home to Benetton at the end of February and a 19-13 defeat away to the Ospreys at the end of January.
One earlier match against South African opposition saw the Dragons draw a Round 2 home fixture against the Sharks 17-17. They visit the Lions next week and host the Bulls in Round 15.
Team News
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 JJ Kotzé, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Paul de Villiers, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Wandisile Simelane
Dragons: 15 Cai Evans, 14 Jared Rosser, 13 Fetuli Paea, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Angus O’Brien (c), 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Harrison Keddie, 7 Harry Beddall, 6 Ryan Woodman, 5 Seb Davies, 4 Levi Douglas, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Jordan Morris.
Replacements:16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Owain James, 19 Barny Langton-Cryer, 20 Thomas Young, 21 Niall Armstrong, 22 Jac Lloyd, 23 Fine Inisi
The Betting,
Average early show
Stormers -27.5 points at 9/10
Dragons +27.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Tips and more news and betting angles for Round 13 of the URC will be available on Brent Graham's betting blog which is available here.
Plays for Round 6 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.
