The first of two South African derby matches in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday sees the Lions clash with the Sharks in Johannesburg
Lions v Sharks, Saturday 22nd January, KO 15:00 (South African time)
Referee: AJ Jacobs
Assistants: Rasta Rasivhenge, Aimee Barrett-Theron
TMO: Cwengile Jadezweni
Weather Forecast – Johannesburg
Lions:
The Lions most recent URC outing came on 4th December when they turned the Stormers over 37-19 in Cape Town. They scored 4 tries (and conceded 3) including a brace for Horn and Zeilinga converted all 4 and also landed 3 penalties.
The Lions return to action with 11 log points and in terms of the SA Shield they are 2 clear of the Sharks, 4 better off than the Stormers and 6 in front of the Bulls.
Earlier in the tournament the Lions 4 tour matches delivered 1 win and 3 defeats. In Round 1 they were slight underdogs for a visit to Parma to take on Italian side Zebre but they came away with a 38-26 victory. In Round 2 the Lions lost 36-13 to the Scarlets in Llanelli. In Round 3 they went down narrowly (13-9) away to Glasgow Warriors and in their last tour match they were beaten 26-10 at Ulster
Sharks:
A day before the Lions beat the Stormers the Sharks pulled off a 30-16 home win over the Bulls. The game produced just 3 tries, 2 of which went to the Sharks for whom Chamberlain landed 6 penalties.
The Sharks won 1 and lost 3 of their matches on tour. Their only success came at the third time of asking when despite starting as double digit underdogs on the handicap they saw off the Ospreys 27-13 in Swansea. They couldn't follow up in their final tour match, a 23-17 defeat to Cardiff. The Sharks tournament started away to Munster and they went down 42-17 and in Round 2 they were in Glasgow for a game against the Warriors on an artificial surface and they went down 35-24.
Team News
Lions: 15 EW Viljoen, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain,) 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruhan Straeuli, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sti Sithole
Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Matt More, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel
Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Sibusiso Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am (captain), 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Boeta Chamberlain, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Jeandre Labuschagne, 6 James Venter, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nche
Replacements: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Reniel Hugo, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Tito Bonilla, 23 Jeremy Ward
The Betting, Join Betway today and get a R25 Sign Up Bet
Lions +10.5 points 9/10
Sharks -5.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
23h50 22 Jan
There is quite a difference between the bookmakers with -5.5 Sharks on offer at Betxchange and +10.5 at WSB. I missed the early -1.5 on the Sharks highlighted in the forum and although tempted by the -5.5 I am going to wait for points lines before making my move.
Update 10h40 22 Jan
The points lines are out and I caught up with The Conductor - click here to watch the chat
He likes the overs here and so do I
Bet: 5 units over 58.5 points at Playabets
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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