After a confidence boosting win last weekend the Lions face a tough task in Round 5 of the United Rugby Championship when they take on Ulster in Belfast on Friday
Ulster v Lions, Friday 17th November, Belfast, KO 21:35 (South African time)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Padraic Reidy (Ireland)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Ireland)
Weather Forecast - Belfast
Ulster:
Ulster have won 3 and lost 1 of their matches and they are on the heels of the leaders in fourth spot with 14 points, just 1 point behind the Bulls, Leinster and the Warriors.
Most recently they saw off defending champions Munster 21-14 in a derby clash at this venue, bouncing back from their only loss so far which came in another derby away to Connacht (22-20) in Round 3.
Ulster have already hosted South African opposition this season, a 26-19 win over the Bulls in Round 2 whilst their campaign started with a hard fought 40-36 away win at Zerbre Parma.
Against SA opposition last season Ulster beat the Lions 39-37 in Johannesburg and the Sharks 31-24 in Durban. They were 35-5 winners at home to the Stormers and 32-23 victors at home to the Bulls.
In the outright betting to win the title BoyleSports make Ulster 11/1 shots.
Lions:
After 3 narrow defeats the Lions chalked up a first win when they edged out the Scarlets 24-23. They were 5.5 point underdogs on the handicap for that match and they fought their way back from 23-14 down in the later stages.
All 3 of the Lions earlier games were pretty close. They went down 15-10 away to Benetton in Round 3 where the handicap line proved accurate. In Round 2 they were edged out 17-16 at Edinburgh and when they hosted the Stormers in Round 1 their late fightback from 32-7 down at one stage in the second half came up just short as they were beaten 35-33.
Against Irish opposition last season the Lions lost 39-27 to Ulster and 39-36 to Leinster in Johannesburg, on tour they were beaten at Munster (33-3) and Connacht (43-24)
The Lions return home after this and they come into this round in twelfth spot with 8 log points.
Team News
Ulster: 15 Stewart Moore, 14 Rob Baloucoune, 13 James Hume, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jake Flannery, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 David McCann, 7 Reuben Crothers, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Iain Henderson (Captain), 4 Alan O’Connor, 3 Scott Wilson, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Andrew Warwick
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Eric O’Sullivan, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Harry Sheridan, 20 Lorcan McLoughlin, 21 John Cooney, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Mike Lowry
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 Hanru Sirgel, 5 Willem Alberts, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Corne Fourie.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Ruan Venter, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Jordan Hendrikse, 23 Rabz Maxwane
URC PROMOTION: Lock horns for a chance to win big!
Place a R50 or more bet on the URC from 3 - 26 November and you could win a share of R10,000 in Extra Bets. Ts & Cs apply
The Betting,
Ulster -13.5 points at 9/10
Lions +14.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Get my free weekly betting newsletter with a firm lean towards rugby – click here to join the battle against the bookmakers
I am taking a rare weekend away with the wife and so am getting my preview pick up early for this one.
Having initially handicapped this game Ulster -10.5 I am actually leaning towards the home team on the handicap here. The Lions have been unlucky not to win at least 1 more game but I feel they may run out of steam here at the end of a tough tour.
Rather than a handicap bet I am turning to the points lines. The weather doesn’t look great on Friday night with some rain and wind about and the points line looks fairly high at 52.5.
I am especially keen on the Lions under 18.5. They got 24 against a much weaker Scarlets team last week but prior to that they got 10 points away to Benetton and 16 points in Edinburgh. Ulster home games have seen them concede 19 points to the Bulls and 14 points to Munster both teams I would regard as a fair bit stronger than the Lions.
Stay close to our forum thread for more bets
BET: 5 units Lions under 18.5 points at 87/100 at Pokerbet*
*Pokerbet are generally 1st to market with rugby points lines – click here to open an account
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.
