After just failing to pull off a comeback win in the United Rugby Championship last week the Lions now head off on a tour which starts with a clash with Edinburgh on Saturday.
Edinburgh v Lions, Saturday 28th October, Edinburgh, KO 18:00 (South African time)
Referee: Chris Busby
Assistant referee: Jonny Perriam, Rob McDowell
TMO: Colin Stanley
Weather Forecast - Edinburgh
Edinburgh:
Edinburgh were away to the Dragons in Round 1 and they came through with a 22-17 victory. They were 14-3 down at half time and Vellacott scored their only try, converted by Healy who also landed 5 penalties as Edinburgh picked up 4 log points.
Last season Edinburgh could only finish in twelfth position with a record of 6 wins and 12 defeats to fall well short of the play offs. In their match ups with South African sides they lost 33-31 away to the Bulls and 34-18 away to the Stormers. They were also edged out by the Lions (22-19) in a home fixture and the Sharks also won 22-19 on their visit here.
In the outright betting to win the title BoyleSports make Edinburgh 55/1 shots.
Lions:
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.
The Lions ran in 4 of their 5 tries in the second half against the Stormers and they ended up with 2 bonus points. After this the Lions will visit Benetton, the Scarlets and then Ulster.
In addition to winning in Edinburgh in 2022/23 the Lions also beat Glasgow Warriors 35-24 in a home fixture. They also won early season tour matches at the Ospreys and Cardiff but with a record of 9 wins and 9 defeats for 45 log points they just missed out on a play off spot.
In the outright betting the Lions are 165/1 shots to win the tournament with BoyleSports.
Team News
Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Ross McCann, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Matt Currie, 11 Wes Goosen, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ben Vellacott (captain), 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Luke Crosbie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Glen Young, 3 Javan Sebastian, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 WP Nel, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Connor Boyle, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Chris Dean
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 Ruan Venter, 6 Emmanuel Tshituka, 5 Darrien-Lane Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Corne Fourie.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Hanru Sirgel, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Rynhardt Jonker, 23 Andries Coetzee.
The Betting,
Edinburgh -12.5 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
This game is on at the same time as the Sharks game which I will be focusing on. Both of these teams came from behind last week and although the Lions still lost to the Stormers I think they can push Edinburgh here. I am not going to get heavily involved and rather than back the handicap it is a small interest on an upset for me.
Bet: 1 units Lions win at 5/1 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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