The Stormers get the new United Rugby Championship season underway in Cape Town on Friday night with a clash against last season's champions Leinster.
Stormers v Leinster, Friday 26th September, Cape Town, KO 19:00 (South African time)
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Sean Muller (South Africa), Stephan Geldenhuys (South Africa)
TMO: Adam Jones (Wales)
Weather Forecast – Cape Town
Stormers:
The Stormers put in a strong finish to the 2024/25 season to finish in fifth place with an overall record of 10 wins and 8 defeats. They had too much ground to make up to have any chance of hosting a quarter final and hence travelled to Glasgow to take on the Warriors where they lost 36-18.
Last season the Stormers came up against Leinster in Round 10 in Dublin and they were beaten 36-10. At home to Irish opposition they beat Munster 34-19 in Round 5 and Connacht 34-29 in Round 15.
After this the Stormers will host the Ospreys in Round 2 before heading off on tour for games at the Scarlets, Zebre, Benetton and Munster.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Stormers are 14/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Leinster:
Leinster won 16 and lost 2 of their matches in the 2024/25 regular season, they pretty much had top spot wrapped after starting with 12 straight wins and eventually finished 8 points clear of the second placed Bulls. In the first play off round they beat the Scarlets before a semi final win over Glasgow Warriors to set up a final against the Bulls at Croke Park which they won 32-7.
When visiting South Africa last season Leinster were far from full strength and they lost 21-20 to the Bulls at Loftus before edging out the Sharks 10-7 in Durban.
In the outright betting to win the URC title Leinster are 6/10 favourites with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Stormers: 15 Wandisile Simelane, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Olly Reid, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Ruan Ackermann, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Dewaldt Duvenage, 23 Clinton Swart
Leinster: 15 Jimmy O’Brien, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Ciarán Frawley, 11 Jordan Larmour, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Luke McGrath (c), 8 James Culhane, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Brian Deeny, 4 Diarmuid Mangan, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Gus McCarthy, 1 Jack Boyle
Replacements: 16 John McKee, 17 Paddy McCarthy, 18 Andrew Sparrow, 19 Max Deegan, 20 Will Connors, 21 Fintan Gunne, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Hugh Cooney
The Betting,
Average early show, to be updated
Stormers +6.5 points at 9/10
Leinster -6.5 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 5 of the Rugby Championship will be posted on this Blog.
Likewise the Womens RWC Final bets will be posted in 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.