After two narrow defeats the Lions go in search of a first United Rugby Championship win of the season when they visit Benetton in Trevisio on Sunday
Benetton v Lions, Sunday 5th November, Trevisio, KO 15:30 (South African time)
Referee: Peter Martin (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland) and Oisin Quinn (Ireland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
Weather Forecast – Trevisio
Benetton:
Benetton have made a promising start to their campaign. They began with a 23-22 away to Cardiff and in Round 2 they followed up with a 13-13 draw at home to Munster, a game they led 13-3 at one stage but the defending champions hit back late on to rescue a draw to leave Benetton on 6 log points.
At home to South African opposition last season Benetton lost at home to the Bulls (44-24) and the Lions (32-28). In SA they lost at the Sharks (43-33) and the Stormers (38-22)
Lions:
The Lions are still looking for a first victory although they have picked up 3 log points from their first 2 matches.
In Round 2 they were edged out 17-16 at Edinburgh in their first tour match. Given around 12.5 points start on the handicap the Lions led 7-6 at half time and in a nip and tuck game Edinburgh got back in front and just held on.
The Lions hosted the Stormers in Round 1, they were around 5.5 point underdogs on the handicap and their late fightback from 32-7 down at one stage in the second half came up just short as they were beaten 35-33.
Against Italian opposition last season the Lions won this fixture in Trevisio 32-28 and they were 50-35 winners at home to Zebre.
After this the Lions will visit the Scarlets and then Ulster.
Team News
Benetton: Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Edoardo Padovani, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Filippo Drago, 11 Ignacio Mendy, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Sebastian Negri, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Eli Snyman (captain), 4 Edoardo Iachizzi, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Giosué Zilocchi, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Michele Lamaro, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Jacob Umaga, 23 Marco Zanon
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 Hanru Sirgel, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Morgan Naude.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 JC Pretorius, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Rynhardt Jonker, 23 Andries Coetzee
The Betting,
Benetton -5.5 points at 9/10
Lions +5.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
This handicap has been stable all week having opened Benetton -5.5 a couple of points higher than I was expecting having gone -3.5 when I opened the forum thread.
Benetton were a side I earmarked to follow at the start of the season and they have beaten both handicaps so far. I was impressed with the Lions last week though and they narrowly failed to deliver my 5/1 board play against Edinburgh.
My main interest here will likely be a points play so stay close to our rugby betting forum thread where I will post any additional plays but I am going to have a straight win bet on the Lions here.
I think they can stay in the fight early and can finish strong to win this.
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BET: 2 units Lions win at 21/10 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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