The Sharks host Saracens in Round 2 of the Champions Cup in Durban on Saturday and the betting suggests it should it could be a close contest.
Sharks v Saracens, Saturday 13th December, Durban, KO 17:15 (South African time)
Referee: Luc Ramos (Fra)
Assistant Referees: Kevin Bralley (Fra), Flavien Hourquet (Fra)
TMO: Julien Castaignede (Fra)
Weather Forecast - Durban
Sharks:
The Sharks named a way under strength side for their Round 1 clash away to one of the outright favourites Stade Toulouse in Round 1 last week and after the pre-match handicap had ballooned out to around 48.5 points they finished beaten 56-19, conceding 8 tries and scoring 3.
Toulouse set the early pace in Pool 1 ahead of Saracens and Glasgow Warriors with all 3 sides on 5 points. Sale Sharks have 1 point and the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Clermont have yet to open their account.
After this the Sharks will head to Sale in Round 3 in January before they finish up at home to Clermont.
In the URC the Sharks have just 1 win and 1 draw (alongside 4 defeats) to show for their first matches and they are third from bottom on the log with 8 points.
To win the Champions Cup title this season the Sharks are 100/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Saracens:
Saracens began their campaign at home to Clermont as 14.5 point favourites on the bookmakers main handicap line and they cruised to a 47-10 victory, leading 26-0 at half time and going on to score 7 tries in total.
After this Round 3 sees Saracens host Toulouse and they finish up away to Glasgow Warriors.
In the English Premiership Saracens are in sixth place having won 3 and lost 3 of their 6 matches so far. They have lost their 2 most recent matches in that competition, 43-31 away to Northampton and 36-29 at home to Bath.
To win the Champions Cup title this season Saracens are 18/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Ethan Hooker, 12 Andre Esterhuizen (captain), 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 George Whitehead, 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 Jordan Hendrikse
Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Rotimi Segun, 13 Sam Spink, 12 Olly Hartley, 11 Angus Hall, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Charlie Bracken, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Andy Onyeama-Christie (captain), 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Harry Wilson, 4 Nick Isiekwe, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Eroni Mawi
Replacements: 16 James Hadfield, 17 Alex O Driscoll, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Hugh Tizard, 20 Nathan Michelow, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Gareth Simpson, 23 Alex Lozowski
The Betting,
Average early show
Sharks +1.5 points at 9/10
Saracens -1.5 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 this weeks Champions Cup matches 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.