The Lions host the Bulls in the first of two SA derby matches in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday, the Lions won the first clash with Bulls at Loftus, will we see a different outcome in Johannesburg?
Lions v Bulls, Saturday 31st January, Johannesburg, KO 14:30 (South African time)
Referee: Morne Ferreira (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa), Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa)
TMO: Egon Seconds (South Africa)
Weather Forecast - Johannesburg
Lions:
The Lions come into Round 11 in seventh place with a record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats and with 24 points they are 11 shy of a top 4 spot although they still have a game in hand over a number of other play off contenders from Europe.
That draw came last weekend, 24-24 away to the Ospreys in Bridgend and the Lions now return to Ellis Park for their first home fixture since late October when they beat Ulster 49-31. Their only other home game comprised of a 29-18 win over the Scarlets and they won’t travel again until the final 2 rounds of the regular season.
The Lions turned the Bulls over (43-33) at Loftus at the end of November. Two further subsequent SA derby matches saw them go down to the Stormers (34-27) in Cape Town before they edged out the Sharks (23-22) in Durban.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Lions are 80/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Bulls:
The Bulls find themselves in ninth position with 4 wins alongside 5 defeats and they are 4 points behind their opponents here and 1 shy of the eighth placed Ospreys.
Last weekend they returned to the winners box with a 19-17 win away to Edinburgh, their first victory since Round 4 when they won at Connacht. They also won at home to the Ospreys and Leinster early in the season but 3 SA derby defeats at home to the Lions (43-33) and away to the Sharks (21-12) and the Stormers (13-8) saw them slip down the log.
In terms of the SA Shield standings, the Sharks, Stormers and Lions all have 10 points and the Bulls have just 2.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls are 9/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Lions: tbc
Bulls: tbc
The Betting,
Average early show
Lions +4.5 points at 9/10
Bulls -4.5 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 Week 11 of the United Rugby Championship will be posted on this Blog.
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.
