The Stormers take on Connacht in the United Rugby Championship in Galway on Saturday and whilst the visitors remain on course for a play off spot they still have ground to make up on the top 4.
Connacht v Stormers, Saturday 18th May, Galway, KO 18:05 (South African time)
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
Assistant referees: Chris Busby (Ireland) and Padraic Reidy (Ireland)
TMO: Stefano Penne (Italy)
Weather Forecast - Galway
Connacht:
Connacht's play off hopes took a dent when they were beaten 47-12 away to Munster last week. That loss saw them finish the round in ninth spot and 4 points off a play off spot with this match and a visit to Leinster to come.
Connacht's overall record comprises of 9 wins and 7 defeats. In earlier matches against SA opposition they won 13-12 at the Sharks in Round 5 before crashing to a 53-27 defeat to the Bulls at Loftus. In Round 12 Connacht came unstuck at home to the Lions when they went down 38-14.
Connacht are priced at 55/1 to win the URC title with BoyleSports
Stormers:
The Stormers were 44-21 winners over the Dragons in Newport last week but with the bulk of their rivals for a top 4 finish all winning they finished the round unchanged in fifth place.
The Stormers now have a record of 10 wins and 6 defeats and their tally of 50 log points is still 6 shy of the fourth placed Bulls.
In earlier matches against Irish opposition the Stormers beat a second string Leinster side 42-12 in Cape Town in Round 15, they saw off Ulster 13-7 in a Round 13 home fixture and on tour in Round 5 they lost 10-3 at Munster.
After this the Stormers finish up at home to the Lions and in the outright betting the Stormers are priced at 98/10 to win the URC title with BoyleSports
Team News
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 John Porch, 13 David Hawkshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Byron Ralston, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Sean Jansen, 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 Darragh Murray, 4 Joe Joyce, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan (c), 1 Peter Dooley
Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Oisín Dowling, 20 Jarrad Butler, 21 Colm Reilly, 22 Cathal Forde, 23 Santiago Cordero
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Evan Roos, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Brok Harris
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
The Betting,
Connacht +6.5 points at 9/10
Stormers -5.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Connacht still have an outside chance of making the playoffs and, if expected, Benetton lose to the Bulls earlier in the day then a win or even perhaps a bonus point win could send them into the top 8 and at the same time the Stormers may well find a 4th place is out of their reach by the time this game kicks off.
The Stormers will still be motivated to win though, but for me Connacht will be the hungrier team and having originally handicapped them as favourites, I am going to stick with my guns and back the home team to get the victory.
BET: 3 Units, Connacht win at 12/5 at Betxchange
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.
