After starting their campaign with a narrow win last week the Stormers are back in United Rugby Championship action on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Scarlets in Stellenbosch
Stormers v Scarlets, Saturday 28th October, Stellenbosch, KO 16:00 (South African time)
Referee: Sam Grove-White
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby, Christopher Allison
TMO: Mike Adamson
Weather Forecast – Stellenbosch
Stormers:
The Stormers (5.5 point favourites) made a winning start away to the Lions in an SA derby in the opening round but they had to survive a Lions fightback to cling on to a 35-33 victory. They led 27-7 at half time and were 32-7 to the good at one stage in the second half before the Lions late rally came up just short.
The Lions “won” the try count 5-4 but the Stormers were one of 6 teams to claim the full 5 points. On the down side captain Salmaan Moerat picked up an injury that looks likely to see him sidelined for the next few weeks.
After this the Stormers head off on a tour which takes them to Glasgow, Benetton, Munster and Cardiff.
In the outright betting the Stormers are 6/1 shots to win the tournament with BoyleSports who make Leinster 0.72/1 favourites followed by defending champions Munster who are 11/2.
Scarlets:
The Scarlets were 18.5 point underdogs for their Round 1 clash with the Bulls at Loftus and they finished well beaten, 63-21. The Bulls had a bonus point wrapped up in the first 25 minutes and although the Scarlets reduced the deficit to 28-14 by half time they conceded 9 tries in total. McNicholl once and Plumtree twice scored tries for the Scarlets but they left empty handed.
The Scarlets finished fourteenth on the log in 2022/23 with a record of 6 wins, 1 draw and 11 defeats for 34 log points. Against South African opposition last season the Scarlets lost 36-19 to the Stormers in Cape Town and 32-15 to the Lions in Johannesburg. They beat the Bulls 37-28 in a home fixture and also beat the Sharks 32-20 in another home game.
In the outright betting the Scarlets are 220/1 shots to win the tournament with BoyleSports.
Team News
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Clayton Blommetjies, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche (captain), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Courtnall Skosan
Scarlets: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies (captain), 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Carwyn Tuipulotu, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Morgan Jones, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Sam Wainwright, 2 Shaun Evans, 1 Kemsley Mathias.
Replacements: 16 Isaac Young, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Jac Price, 20 Ben Williams, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Charlie Titcombe, 23 Eddie James
The Betting,
Stormers -24.5 points at 9/10
Scarlets +24.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
The Stormers should win this one comfortably but 24.5 is a big handicap and the Scarlets showed some promising signs in that big defeat by the Bulls. I was considering over 55.5 points but I believe there is some wind about and I am going to go for what to me looks a very attarctove price on one of the new markets WSB are pricing up.
The Stormers backline are 8/10 to score more tries than the Scarlets backline and given the match handicap that looks a cracker.
Bet: 5 units Stormers backs more tries than Scarlets backs at 8/10 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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