The Bulls host the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship at Loftus on Saturday, an important game for the play off hopes of both sides.
Bulls v Sharks, Saturday 28th February, Pretoria, KO 17:00 (South African time)
Referee: Morne Ferreira (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa) & Jonathan Lottering (South Africa)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
The Bulls find themselves in eighth position with 5 wins alongside 5 defeats and with 25 log points they are 11 shy of a top 4 spot although they do have a game in hand on a number of play off rivals.
Their most recent URC action came at the end of January when they thrashed the Lions 52-17 in Johannesburg. Three earlier SA derby matches, at home to the Lions (43-33) and away to the Sharks (21-12) and the Stormers (13-8) ended in defeat.
In terms of the SA Shield standings, the Sharks have 16 points, Lions 15, Stormers 9 and Bulls have 7.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls are 15/2 shots with Hollywoodbets
Sharks:
The Sharks have a record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats and they are in tenth place with 24 log points, 1 shy of a play off place.
In the only URC match last weekend the Sharks went down 34-22 to the Lions in Johannesburg, a defeat which saw them slip out of the play off places. Prior to that the Sharks had completed back to back bonus point wins over the Stormers in the final two weeks of January, ending their rivals 100% record with a 30-19 win in Cape Town and following up with a 36-24 win in Durban. Two other SA derby matches, both in Durban saw the Sharks beat the Bulls 21-12 and lose 23-22 to the Lions.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Sharks are 20/1 with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Bulls: tbc
Sharks: tbc
The Betting,
Average early show
Bulls -10.5 points at 9/10
Sharks +10.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Brent Graham's betting angle and plays for this game will be available on this blog and BG also has a blog in operation for plays for Round 3 of Super Rugby which is available here.
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.