After losing their opening tour match in the new United Rugby Championship season the Sharks face another test test when they take on outright favourites Leinster in Dublin on Saturday
Leinster v Sharks, Saturday 28th October, Dublin, KO 17:55 (South African time)
Referee: Federico Vedovelli
Assistant referees: Joy Neville, Paul Haycock
TMO: Stefano Roscini
Weather Forecast - Dublin
Leinster:
Leinster opened their campaign away to Glasgow Warriors who fielded a strong side including several Scottish internationals and they were beaten 43-25. They were without their Irish internationals and trailed 24-13 at half time and Leinster scored 3 tries whilst conceding 6 and they failed to earn a log point.
After dominating the regular season in 2022/23 Leinster were beaten semi finalists, going down to Munster. They beat the Sharks 54-34 in Dublin and when the teams met again in the quarter finals Leinster came out on top 35-5.
In the outright betting to win the title BoyleSports make Leinster 0.72/1 favourites followed by defending champions Munster who are 11/2 and the Stormers at 6/1.
Sharks:
The Sharks were in Limerick in Round 1 for a clash with defending champions Munster and they were beaten 31-24, a result which was pretty much in line with the pre-match handicap. The writing was on the wall at half time with the Sharks trailing 21-7 and whilst they stuck to their task Munster always had plenty of daylight on the scoreboard and they ran in 5 tries to secure a bonus point whilst the Sharks scored 3.
Aside from the 2 defeats to Leinster last season the Sharks also went down to Irish opposition in the shape of Ulster, 31-24 in Durban and Connacht (24-12) in Galway and they drew with Munster (22-22) in Durban.
In the outright betting the Sharks are 13/1 shots to win the tournament with BoyleSports.
Team News
Leinster: 15 Ciarán Frawley, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Jordan Larmour, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Cormac Foley, 8 Max Deegan, 7 Scott Penny (captain), 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Jason Jenkins, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Michael Ala’alatoa, 2 Lee Barron, 1 Jack Boyle.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Donnellan, 17 Paddy McCarthy, 18 Rory McGuire, 19 Brian Deeny, 20 Will Connors, 21 Ben Murphy, 22 Sam Prendergast, 23 Rob Russell
Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Francois Venter (c), 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Marnus Potgieter, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 James Venter, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Corne Rahl, 3 Haro Jacobs, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Khwezi Mona, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 George Cronje, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Aphiwe Dyantyi.
The Betting,
Leinster -16.5 points at 9/10
Sharks +16.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
There has been some money for the Sharks with the early +18.5 no longer available. I think we are going to get points in this game and although the Sharks only scored 5 points in last seasons quarter final in Dublin they got 34 points in the group match that season. The weather doesn't look great but I am betting the Sharks score at least 18 points.
Bet: 4 units Sharks points over 17.5 at 17/20 at Sportingbet*
*If you don’t have a Sportingbet account please use this link to open one
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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