The Stormers made a perfect start to their United Rugby Championship campaign last weekend and they remain in Cape Town for a Round 2 clash with the Ospreys on Friday.

Stormers v Ospreys, Friday 3rd October, Cape Town, KO 19:00 (South African time)

Referee: Peter Martin (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa), JD Jadezweni (South Africa)
TMO: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)

Weather Forecast – Cape Town

Stormers:

The Stormers welcomed Leinster to Cape Town in Round 1 and although the home side started at around +9.5 point underdogs on the bookmakers main handicap line they dispatched the reigning champions 35-0. Brent had a unit on the Stormers to win at odds of 75/20 and they led 6-0 at half time before a clinical second half showing saw them run in tries through Stef Ungerer, Evan Roos, Ruan Ackermann and Jurie Matthee. The Stormers were 1 of 8 teams to pick up the full 5 points in the opening round and the margin of their victory saw them finish with top spot on the log.

After this the Stormers will head off on tour for games at the Scarlets, Zebre, Benetton and Munster and by the time they return to action in SA for the local derby program over Xmas.

In the outright betting to win the URC title the Stormers are 10/1 (from14/1) with Hollywoodbets

Ospreys:

The Ospreys tour started at Loftus where they lost 53-40 to the Bulls. They threatened a surprise when leading 26-19 at half time but the Bulls got on top in the second half in a game of 15 tries in total, 9 for the Bulls and 6 for the Ospreys. Keelan Giles and Kieran Williams both scored 2 tries and the others came from Jack Walsh and Morgan Morse whilst Dan Edwards landed 5 conversions. The Ospreys did pick up a bonus point last week and in terms of the handicap given they started at around 20.5 point underdogs it was one for the plus backers.

Going back to last season these teams also met in Round 2 in Wales and it was the Ospreys who came out on top, defeating the Stormers 37-24.

After this the Ospreys return to Wales for back to back home games against Zebre and Glasgow Warriors. In the outright betting to win the URC title the Ospreys are 250/1 long shots with Hollywoodbets

Team News

Stormers: 15 Wandisile Simelane, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Connor Evans, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Clinton Swart

Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Phil Cokanasiga, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 James Ratti, 5 Huw Sutton, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Rhys Henry, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Cam Jones, 18 Tom Botha, 19 James Fender, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Reuben Morgan Williams, 22 Tom Florence, 23 Iestyn Hopkins

The Betting,

Average early show, to be updated

Stormers -16.5 points at 9/10

Ospreys +16.5 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 6 of the Rugby Championship will be posted on this Blog.

Likewise we will use this blog for tips the second round of the URC.

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.

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