Munster host the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship in Limerick on Saturday and after starting with a bonus point win overseas last week this looks likely to be a tougher test for the South African side.
Munster vs Bulls, Saturday 3rd October, Limerick, KO 20:45 (South African time)
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Cole (IRFU), Andrew Fogarty (IRFU)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (FIR)
Weather Forecast - Limerick
Munster:
Munster’s URC opener ended in disappointment as they went down 26-20 at home to Glasgow Warriors last week. Munster led 17-7 at half time with first half tries from O'Connor and Milne but they added just 3 point to that tally after the break and a losing bonus point was all they had to show for their efforts.
Last season Munster bowed out of the URC to the Bulls in the first round of play offs after they were thumped 45-14 at Loftus
In the outright betting to win the URC title Hollywoodbets have Munster priced up as 14/1 shots
Bulls:
The Bulls started their URC campaign away to Zebre in Parma and they came through with a bonus point win, 47-13. Reinhardt Ludwig scored 2 of their 7 tries, the others came through a penalty try, Paul de Wet, Ruan Vermaak, Harold Vorster and Zak Burger and a pre-match handicap of Bulls -10.5 points was covered with plenty of daylight.
After this the Bulls return home for a Round 3 derby at home to the Lions. In the outright betting to win the URC title Hollywoodbets have the Bulls priced up as 3/1 second favourites behind Leinster who are 16/10
Line Ups:
Munster: 15 Shane Daly, 14 Diarmuid Kilgallen, 13 Seán O’Brien, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Shay McCarthy, 10 Charlie O’Shea, 9 Craig Casey (captain), 8 Brian Gleeson, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Seán Edogbo, 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Tom Ahern, 3 Jack Aungier, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Michael Milne
Replacements: 16 Kieran Brookes, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Ronan Foxe, 19 Evan O’Connell, 20 Gavin Coombes, 21 Ben O’Donovan, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Alex Kendellen
Bulls: 15 Hakeem Kunene, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Stravino Jacobs, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Reinhardt Ludwig, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Juann Else, 1 Alu Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Janco Uys, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Cheswill Jooste, 23 Willie le Roux
The Betting,
Average early show
Munster-3.5 points at 9/10
Bulls +3.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Bets:
Tips, more news and betting angles for the URC matches will be available on Brent Graham's betting blog 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.