After two home wins the Stormers begin their United Rugby Championship tour in Italy when they head to Parma to take on Zebre on Saturday
Zebre v Stormers, Saturday 8th October, Parma, KO 16:00 (South African time)
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Dario Merli (Italy) & Alberto Favaro (Italy)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
Weather Forecast - Parma
Zebre:
Zebre have lost all 3 of their matches so far although they have picked up 4 bonus points along the way. Last weekend they lost 21-5 away to Munster whilst in the opening round they ran outright title favourites Leinster close at this venue, eventually going down 33-29 in a game of 5 tries each. In Round 2 when hosting the Sharks they were 17.5 point underdogs on the handicap and they were beaten 42-37 in another game of 5 tries for each side.
The 2021/22 URC season saw Zebre finish with the wooden spoon with a record of 1 win and 17 defeats. They were beaten 45-7 by the Bulls and 38-26 by the Lions in home fixtures and they lost 55-7 to the Stormers in Stellenbosch.
Stormers:
The Stormers easily covered a 6.5 point handicap with a 34-18 home win over Edinburgh in Round 2. They scored 4 tries including a brace for Hartzenberg to make it 2 wins from their first 2 matches. The Stormers entered the fray in Round 2 with a 38-15 win over Connacht in a game staged in Stellenbosch (half time 13-8), covering the bookmakers main handicap line of around 11.5 points and securing a bonus point.
With 10 log points the Stormers are in fourth spot, 1 point behind Ulster and 4 shy of the Bulls and Leinster but they have a game in hand on the 3 sides above them.
After this the Stormers will head to Wales to take on the Ospreys and then Cardiff. In terms of the outright betting to win the tournament this season the Stormers are 17/2 shots with World Sports Betting , the same price as the Bulls and the Sharks.
Team News
Zebre: 15 Jacopo Trulla, 14 Latu Latunipulu, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Damiano Mazza, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Tiff Eden, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Taina Fox-Matamua, 7 Iacopo Bianchi, 6 Davide Ruggeri, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 David Sisi (captain), 3 Ion Neculai, 2 Jacques Du Toit, 1 Juan Pitinar.
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Matteo Nocera, 19 Gabriele Venditti, 20 Luca Andreani, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Joey Caputo, 23 Lorenzo Pani
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Alapati Leuia, 12 Sacha Mngomezulu, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 Adre Smith, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Allister Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Nama Xaba, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Dan du Plessis
The Betting - Risk Free First Bet Up to R2,000 back if you don't win
Zebre +14.5 points at 9/10
Stormers -13.5 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 Zebre on the handicap and I am still leaning in their direction but not with any confidence. They have been playing some good rugby especially at home and with conditions good I am going to back them to score at least 21 points.
Click here for the Video Preview of this game and the views of The Conductor and The Oracle
BET: 4 units Zebre over 20.5 points at 9/10 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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