The Lions host the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship in Johannesburg on Saturday where both sides will be looking to strengthen their hand in terms of the composition of the play offs.
Lions v Stormers, Saturday 28th February, Johannesburg, KO 14:30 (South African time)
Referee: Christopher Allison (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa) & Stephen Geldenhuys (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Weather Forecast - Johannesburg
Lions:
The Lions have a record of 5 wins, 1 draw and 5 defeats and with 29 points they have moved up to seventh position. There is a 6 point gap to sixth place Munster and the Lions are 7 points adrift of a top 4 spot. A few teams have a game in hand and they now have a sequence of home games before spending the final two rounds in Ireland.
In a catch up game last weekend the Lions saw off the Sharks 34-22 at Ellis Park, picking up a bonus point in the process. Prior to that another home fixture against the Bulls at the end of January saw them crash and burn in a 52-17 defeat.
In earlier SA derby matches the Lions turned the Bulls over (43-33) at Loftus, they went down to the Stormers (34-27) in Cape Town and they edged out the Sharks (23-22) in Durban.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Lions are 100/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Stormers:
The Stormers have slipped to third on the log and their record now comprises of 8 wins and 2 defeats for 36 log points. That puts them 4 points behind Leinster and 8 behind Glasgow Warriors although they have played one game fewer than the top 2.
After reeling off 8 straight wins the stormers have lost their last 2 games, back to back derby matches against the Sharks where they went down 30-19 in Cape Town and 36-24 in Durban.
Over the festive season the Stormers won back to back SA derby matches in Cape Town, against the Lions (34-27) and then the Bulls (13-8). Looking ahead, the Stormers won’t head overseas in this tournament until the final two rounds of the regular season.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Stormers are now 9/2 third favourites with Hollywoodbets with Leinster topping the boards at 9/10 and Glasgow Warriors are 4/1.
Team News
Lions: tbc
Stormers: tbc
The Betting,
Average early show
Lions +5.5 points at 9/10
Stormers -5.5 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.