After coming unstuck in their first United Rugby Championship tour match the Bulls bid to bounce back when they take on Connacht in a Round 4 clash in Galway on Friday
Connacht v Bulls, Friday 17th October, Galway, KO 20:45 (South African time)
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Cole (Ireland), Jack MacNeice (Ireland)
TMO: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Weather Forecast – Galway
Connacht:
Connacht have played just the two matches so far and they have earned 6 log points. They started with a 26-15 home win over Benetton before a Round 2 home fixture against the Scarlets was postponed. In Round 3 Connacht travelled to Cardiff and they went down 14-8.
Last season Connacht hosted the Bulls in Round 7 and the South African’s came away with a 28-14 victory. Connacht did beat the Sharks here 38-30 in Round 2 of 2024/25 whilst in South Africa later in the campaign they lost at the Stormers (34-29) and at the Lions (26-7), defeats which contributed to them missing out on the play offs.
Aft\er this Connacht have a derby away to Munster and in Round 6 at the end of November they will host the Sharks.
In the outright betting to win the URC title Connacht are 66/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Bulls:
The Bulls went into their first tour match against Ulster in Belfast at the top of the standings after two bonus point wins on home turf but they couldn’t make it three in a row as they slipped to a 28-7 defeat.
In the first two rounds it was raining tries at Loftus as the Bulls secured bonus point wins over the Ospreys (53-40) and Leinster (39-31).
The Bulls have slipped to sixth position on the log and with 0 points they are 4 points ff the early pace being set by the Stormers and Munster.
After this the Bulls visit Glasgow Warriors in Round 5 and they will return to SA to prepare for some derby matches which start at the end of November.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls are the shortest price of the South African sides at 9/2 second favourites with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Connacht: 15 Mack Hansen, 14 Chay Mullins, 13 Byron Ralson, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Shayne Bolton, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Sean Jansen, 7 Cian Prendergast (c), 6 Josh Murphy, 5 David O’Connor, 4 Darragh Murray, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Peter Dooley
Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Joe Joyce, 20 Seán O’Brien, 21 Matthew Devine, 22 Sean Naughton, 23 Cathal Forde
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Dawid Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Sebastian de Klerk, 10 Keagan Johannes, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 JJ Theron, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 Reinhardt Ludwig (captain), 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 1 Alu Tshakweni
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 20 Mpilo Gumede, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Harold Vorster, 23 Stravino Jacobs
The Betting,
Average early show
Connacht +5.5 points at 9/10
Bulls -5.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Brent Graham's betting angle and plays for Round 4 of the URC will be available on this blog.
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