The Stormers clash with the Bulls in United Rugby Championship in Cape Town on Saturday and the early betting has the home side as narrow favourites for what promises to be a cracking contest.
Stormers v Bulls, Saturday 23rd December, Cape Town, KO 19:00 (South African time)
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa), Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Weather Forecast – Cape Town
Stormers:
The Stormers most recent URC action came at the start of December when they ran out comfortable 31-7 winners over Zebre Parma in Stellenbosch, scoring 5 tries to secure a much needed bonus point.
Prior to that the Stormers lost all 4 of their tour matches, At Glasgow Warriors in Round 3 they lost 20-9 and later matches at Benetton, Munster and Cardiff saw the Stormers pick up losing bonus points.
The Stormers started with 2 bonus point wins, away to the Lions (35-33) and at home to the Scarlets and with a record of 3 wins and 4 defeats they have 18 log points and can be found in tenth spot on the log.
Since their last URC outing the Stormers have played 2 Champions Cup pool matches. An understrength side put up a good show in a 35-26 defeat away to Leicester Tigers in the opening round. Last weekend the Stormers fielded their strongest available line up and they edged out defending champions La Rochelle 21-20 in Cape Town thanks to a late try converted by Libbok.
In the outright betting the Stormers are priced at 84/10 to win the URC title with BoyleSports
Bulls:
The Bulls put the Sharks away 44-10 at Loftus in the previous round of the URC, scoring 6 tries to earn another bonus point. That was their first SA derby of a season which has seen them win 5 and lose 2 of their matches so far. On tour they won 2 of 4 and they are handily placed in third position on the log with 25 points, 1 shy of Glasgow Warriors and 4 adrift of Leinster who set the pace.
The Bulls lost to the Stormers 3 times last season including 2 defeats in Cape Town, 37-27 in the regular season and 33-21 in the quarter finals. The Bulls were also beaten 3 times by the Stormers in 21/22 including the final at this venue.
The Bulls have also been in Champions Cup action and their campaign started with a fine 27-16 home win over Saracens before an understrength side went down 29-28 away to Lyon last week.
In the outright betting the Bulls are 9/1 shots to win the tournament with BoyleSports
Team News
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Keke Morabe, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Clayton Blommetjies
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 David Kriel, 11 Canan Moodie, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw (captain), 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Reinhardt Ludwig, 4 Janko Swanepoel, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Deon Slabbert, 20 Mpilo Gumede, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Sebastian de Klerk
The Betting,
Stormers -o.5 points at 9/10
Bulls +0.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
The line opened Stormers -5.5 and money has been coming for the Bulls all week and at the time of writing (22h40 Friday Night) the Stormers are only marginal favourites.
Looking at the teams I think the money is spot on and I suspect the Bulls could edge ahead in the betting markets before kick off.
The points line is 51.5 and I think this could be an unders play as this game should be really competitve.
Another tempting bet is the Tribet "Any other score" at 15/10 meaning neither side can win by 7 or more but at the end of the day I am jumping on the Bulls train. They are playing well and they meet a Stormers side that has not looked at its best this season.
Bet: 4 units Bulls win at 11/10 at WSB
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.
