The Lions have three wins from three United Rugby Championship outings and their next assignment comes away to Zebre Parma in the first of Saturday's Round 5 matches.
Zebre v Lions, Saturday 19th October, Parma, KO 13:30 (South African time)
Referee: Ben Connor (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales) and Rhys Jones (Wales)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wales)
Weather Forecast - Parma
Zebre:
Zebre have 1 win and 3 defeats against their name and with 6 log points only the Stormers are below them in the standings.
They went down 33-3 away to Glasgow Warriors in Round 4 and a week earlier they lost 36-5 at home to the Stormers. However in Round 2 they took the scalp of Munster with a 42-33 victory at this venue, scoring 6 tries to bag a bonus point. Zebre had started with a 22-17 defeat away to Cardiff.
In 2023/24 when hosting SA sides Zebre lost 54-29 to the Bulls in Round 3 and their only victory came a round later, 12-10 at home to the Sharks. They took on the Lions in Johannesburg in Round 6 and crashed to a 61-19 defeat.
In the outright betting to win the URC title you can write your own ticket Zebre who are the rank outsiders
Lions:
The Lions tour began in Newport last week and they got the better of the Dragons, 23-19. They led 13-12 at half time and although they lost the try count 3-2 the Lions held on to their 100% record.
In earlier results a Round 3 clash with Edinburgh at Ellis Park saw the Lions dish out a 55-21 hiding and virtually all the damage was done in the first half with the Lions scoring 7 (of their 8) tries to take a 48-0 lead into the break. The Lions began their URC campaign at home to Ulster in Round 2 and they came out on top 35-22, scoring 5 tries in total.
With two bonus point wins and the hard fought victory at the Dragons the Lions finished Round 4 in third position with 14 log points, ahead of the Bulls on points difference, 2 points shy of Glasgow Warriors and 6 behind Leinster who they will visit next week.
In the outright betting the Lions are 26/1 shots to win the URC title with BoyleSports , less than half their pre-tournament price.
Team News
Zebre: tbc
Lions: tbc
The Betting,
Average early show, to be updated
Zebre +13.5 points at 9/10
Lions -13.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
to follow
Bet: to follow
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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