The Bulls host Ulster in the United Rugby Championship at Loftus on Saturday and the home side are firm favourites to make it back to back wins before they head overseas.
Bulls v Ulster, Saturday 5th October, Pretoria, KO 16:00 (South African time)
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: JD Jadezweni (South Africa), Dylan November (South Africa)
TMO: Ben Breakspear (Wales)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
The Bulls (11.5 point favourites) came in for market support for their opening match of the tournament at home to Edinburgh. They had to work harder than the main handicap line suggested in sealing a 22-16 win, scoring 3 tries (Kirstin, Van der Walt and Moodie ) to 1 but coming up short of landing a bonus point.
When these teams met in Belfast in Round 2 of the 2023/24 season the Bulls were beaten 26-19. The Bulls finished as runners up to Glasgow Warriors in 2023/24, coming up short in the final in front of their own supporters and they were also losing finalists (to the Stormers in Cape Town) in 2021/22.
After this the Bulls head off on tour where they will visit the Ospreys and Scarlets, Benetton and finally Connacht.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls are 59/10 second favourites with BoyleSports who make Leinster (0.76/1) the team to beat.
Ulster:
Ulster took on the Lions in Johannesburg in Round 2 and they were beaten 35-22, a margin of defeat which was outside of the main handicap line which had seen Ulster given 6.5 points start. Some consolation came in the form of a 4 try bonus point although only 1 conversion attempt was successful and with 5 log points they are in mid table in the early season standings.
Ulster had made a winning start to their season when they edged out defending champions Glasgow Warriors 20-19 in Belfast. Both sides scored 3 tries a piece and two of Ulsters came on 72 minutes and then from the final play of the game.
Last season Ulster finished sixth on the log, winning 11 and losing 7 but they fell at the first play off hurdle when they were beaten 43-20 away to Leinster. They were in South Africa for Rounds 12 and 13 where they lost to the Sharks 22-12 and the Stormers 13-7.
In the outright betting Ulster are 25/1 shots to win the URC with BoyleSports.
Team News
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 David Kriel, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Boeta Chamberlain, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw (captain), 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje (captain), 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Sintu Manjezi, 20 Mpilo Gumede, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Aphiwe Dyantyi
Ulster: 15 Mike Lowry, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Stewart Moore, 12 Ben Carson, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Aidan Morgan, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 David McCann, 7 Sean Reffell, 6 James McNabney, 5 Charlie Irvine, 4 Iain Henderson (c), 3 Corrie Barrett, 2 James McCormick, 1 Andrew Warwick
Replacements: 16 Tadgh McElroy, 17 Eric O’Sullivan, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Alan O’Connor, 20 Nick Timoney, 21 Dave Shanahan, 22 James Humphreys, 23 Ben Moxham
The Betting,
Update 5 October 09h24
Bulls -18.5 points at 9/10
Ulster +18.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 4 October 09h11
This handicap has been stable at Bulls -12.5 all week and team announcements could well shake things up. If anything I expect the handicap to move out so taking the -12.5 is an option but I am going to take a watching brief for now.
The points line is 55.5 but most bookies are still to price up. It looks about right.
Update: 4 Oct 11h59
The Bulls have named a strong team and I am expecting this cap to go to -15.5
There is still -12.5 on offer at the likes of Sportingbet and I have taken some on pure value but am going to wait for Bulls points for my main bet
BET: 4 units Bulls -12.5 at 10/11 at Sportingbet
Update 5 October 09h31
The handicap has gone out to -18.5 and the points line is now 62.5 so my initial strike on Bulls points is going to take a back seat for now - if I decide to pull the trigger on Bulls over 40.5 at Betway then I will post the bet in the rugby betting forum thread
I am going to take another bet though and that is Akker van der Merwe to score the final Bulls try. He is all things being equal going to be on the field at the end and is a prolific try scorer - the 10/1 looks fair.
BET: 0.5 unit Akker van der Merwe last Bulls tryscorer at 10/1 at Pokerbet*
*You can open a Pokerbet Account by clicking here
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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