Munster host the Lions in the United Rugby Championship in Limerick on Saturday, another tough task for the visitors who's unbeaten start came to an end in Ireland last time out.
Munster v Lions, Saturday 30th November, Limerick, KO 21:35 (South African time)
Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Keane Davison (Ireland), Padraic Reidy (Ireland)
TMO: Keith David (Wales)
Weather Forecast: - Limerick
Munster:
Munster have won 2 and lost 4 of their matches so far and they are below halfway in the standings with 12 log points.
Their below par start to season includes back to back defeats in South Africa in the two previous rounds. They lost 34-19 to the Stormers in Cape Town in their opening tour match and last time out they went down 41-24 to the Sharks in Durban.
In their favour, two home games this season delivered wins over Connacht (35-33) in the opening round and in Round 3 they beat the Ospreys 23-0.
In SA last season Munster beat the Lions (33-13) at Ellis Park.
In the outright betting Munster are 94/10 to win the URC title with BoyleSports
Lions:
The Lions have won 4 and lost 1 of their first 5 games and they come into Round 7 in fourth spot, 1 point behind the third placed Bulls.
The Lions 100% record was snapped in the previous round when their toughest test to date ended in a 24-6 defeat to Leinster in Dublin.
Away from home they came away from Parma with a 10-9 win over Zebre in Round 5 and in Round 4 and they got the better of the Dragons, 23-19 in Newport. In earlier results a Round 3 clash with Edinburgh at Ellis Park saw the Lions dish out a 55-21 hiding and they began their URC campaign at home to Ulster in Round 2 when they came out on top 35-22.
In the outright betting the Lions are 25/1 shots to win the URC title with BoyleSports
Team News
Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Shay McCarthy, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Ethan Coughlan, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 Alex Kendellen, 6 Jack O’Donoghue, 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Evan O’Connell, 3 John Ryan, 2 Diarmuid Barron (C), 1 Dian Bleuler
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Kieran Ryan, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Ruadhán Quinn, 20 John Hodnett, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Shane Daly
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw (Captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 WJ Steenkamp, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 JC Pretorius, 21 Sanele Nohamba, 22 Tapiwa Mafura, 23 Erich Cronje
The Betting,
Updated 29 November 18h20
Munster -7.5 points at 9/10
Lions +7.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 29 November 18h20
This handicap opened Munster -8.5, but there has been money for the visitors who have not been impacted by International call-ups. The line at the time of writing is Munster -5.5.
I like the Lions here, while I will ponder a handicap or points bet close to kick-off, for now I am going to back the Lions to win the game.
BET: 2 Units, Lions win at 5/2 at WSB
I probably will get involved in the points markets, but that bet will be placed in the Goodforthegame Forum closer to kick off and once weather conditions are confirmed - as things stand the weather doesn't look great and the points line is 48.5.
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Subscribe to our free weekly betting mailer which will include our best and value bets below.
