The Sharks take on the Bulls in Durban in the second of the South African derby matches in the URC on Saturday and in the early betting there is very little to separate the sides
Sharks v Bulls, Saturday 20th December, Durban, KO 18:00 (South African time)
Referee: Griffin Colby
Assistant Referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron, AJ Jacobs
TMO: Marius Jonker
Weather Forecast - Durban
Sharks:
The Sharks disappointing start to the tournament comprises of 1 win, 1 draw and 4 defeats and with just the 8 log points they are third from bottom on the log.
Last time out they were beaten 44-17 by Connacht in Galway and their only victory so far came in Round 5 when they saw off the Scarlets 29-19. Their only other home game saw the Sharks go down 34-26 to Ulster in Round 4.
The Sharks spent the first three rounds in Scotland, Wales and then Ireland. A Round 1 clash with the Warriors in Glasgow saw them finish beaten 35-19 and they picked two log points from a 19-19 draw with the Dragons in Newport in Round 2. In Round 3 they failed to trouble Leinster in Dublin in a 31-5 defeat.
Over the past fortnight the Sharks have been in Champions Cup action and after they were thrashed 56-19 away to Stade Toulouse they put themselves on the board with last week’s 28-23 home win over Saracens.
After this the Sharks will host the Lons in the new year and in the outright betting to win the URC title they are 22/1 with Hollywoodbets
Bulls:
The Bulls have won 3 and lost 3 of their first 6 matches which have seen them earn 15 log points and they can be found in eighth position in the standings, 6 points off a top 4 spot.
The Bulls were involved in the first SA derby of the tournament at the end of November and they were turned over by the Lions at Loftus (43-33).
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 next 3 games were overseas and the Bulls went down 28-7 in Ulster before edging out Connacht (28-27) in Galway. In Round 5 they went down 21-12 to the Warriors in Glasgow.
The Bulls have also been in Champions Cup action over the last 2 weeks and they are in some trouble after losing 46-33 at home to defending champions Bordeaux before last week’s 50-5 hiding off the Saints in Northampton.
After this the Bulls visit the Stormers in the new year and in the outright betting to win the URC title they are 6/1 with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Sharks: 15 Hakeem Kunene, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Ethan Hooker, 12 Andre Esterhuizen (captain), 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Hanro Jacobs, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Phatu Ganyane.
Replacements: 16 Eduan Swart, 17 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 18 Mawande Mdanda, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Matt Romao, 21 Nick Hatton, 22 Jaden Hendrikse, 23 George Whitehead
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 JJ Theron, 7 Elrigh Louw (Captain), 6 Jeandre Rudolph, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Khuta Mchunu, 19 Reinhardt Ludwig, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Devon Williams
The Betting,
Average early show
Sharks -0.5 points at 9/10
Bulls +0.5 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, market moves and plays for Round 7 of the URC will be available on this blog
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.