After reviving their hopes of a place in the United Rugby Championship play offs the Stormers next assignment comes against the Scarlets in Llanelli on Saturday

 

 

 

Scarlets v Stormers, Saturday 22nd March, Llanelli, KO 17:00 (South African time)

 

Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Mike English (Wales), Tom Spurrier (Wales)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)

 

Weather Forecast - Llanelli

 

 

Scarlets:

 

The Scarlets finished Round 12 in tenth position with a record of 5 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats, it's very congested in the middle and lower half of the log and a tally of 28 log points is just 1 shy of a top 8 finish and a play off spot.

 

Round 12 saw the Scarlets go down 30-28 away to Ulster and in Round 11 they finished beaten 29-8 at Munster, A Round 10 home game against Edinburgh finished 30-24 in their favour and earlier in the season they edged out the Bulls 23-22 in another home fixture.

 

The Scarlets made it through to the Challenge Cup Round of 16 where they will visit the Ospreys and they will be due in SA in the final 2 rounds of the URC for games against the Lions and the Sharks.

 

In the outright betting to win the URC title the Scarlets are 250/1 with WSB.

 

Stormers:

 

The Stormers didn't make it through to the knockout rounds of the Champions Cup or the Challenge Cup so their sole focus is on the URC. They finished Round 12 in 12^th position level on points with the Scarlets but with an inferior points difference and their record comprises of 5 wins and 7 defeats.

 

A surprise 19-16 win away to the Bulls has given the Stormers new hope of reaching the play offs. After this they visit Ulster and they finish up with 4 consecutive home games against Connacht, Benetton, the Dragons and Cardiff. The Stormers only match against Welsh opposition this season came back in Round 2 when they lost 37-24 away to the Ospreys.

 

In the outright betting to win the URC title the Stormers are 28/1 shots with WSB.

 

Team News

 

Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Macs Page, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Eddie James, 11 Ellis Mee, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Josh Macleod (captain), 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Sam Wainwright, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Alec Hepburn.

Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Jarrod Taylor, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Charlie Titcombe, 23 Tomi Lewis

 

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.

Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Dewaldt Duvenage, 22 Jurie Matthee, 23 Damian Willemse

 

 

The Betting,

 

Updated 21 March 22h03

Scarlets +3.5 points at 9/10

Stormers -2.5 points at 0.87/1

 

Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.

 

Betting Angle

 

Posted 21 March 22h07

This line was stable all week but the -1.5 Stormers has become -3.5 and I think some of this is due to team selection as I like the side they have selected. 

The weather doesn't look great as the points line of 44.5 suggests and I am going to stick with a straight Stormers handicap bet. 

 

For market moves, weather and bets on all URC games follow this weeks blog 

For Super Rugby Pacific bets follow this blog 

 

BET: 4 units Stormers -2.5 at 0.87/1 at Betxchange 

 

Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.

 

 

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