The Lions hopes of reaching the United Rugby Championship play offs are badly in need of a boost and their next assignment sees them take on Benetton in Johannesburg on Saturday
Lions v Benetton, Saturday 19th April, Johannesburg, KO 13:45 (South African time)
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa), Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa)
TMO: Adam Jones (WRU)
Weather Forecast – Johannesburg
Lions:
The Lions come into the round in 14th position in the standings with a record of 6 wins and 8 defeats and their tally of 30 log points is 6 shy of a play off place.
They return from Europe where a Round of 16 Challenge Cup clash at Edinburgh ended in a 24-12 defeat two weeks ago. Prior to that they lost URC tour matches at Cardiff (20-17) and Glasgow Warriors (42-0). Their only defeat in Johannesburg in the URC this season came against the Bulls in Round 10.
After this the Lions finish up the URC regular season with consecutive home games against Connacht, the Scarlets and the Ospreys.
In the outright betting the Lions are 90/1 shots to win the URC title with WSB.
Benetton:
Benetton finished the previous round seventh in the standings with a record of 7 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats and they are 6 points better off than the Lions.
Their most recent outing came 2 weeks ago, a Champions Cup clash away to Castres which saw them edged out 39-37.
Recent URC form comprises of narrow home wins over Edinburgh (21-18) and Cardiff (20-19). Earlier in the season they beat the Sharks 38-10 in a Round 4 home fixture and in Round 6 they lost 17-15 at home to the Bulls.
In the outright betting Benetton are 80/1 to win the URC title with WSB.
Team News
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Tapiwa Mafura, 13 Rynhardt Jonker, 12 Marius Low, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Sibabalo Qoma, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Renzo du Plessis, 23 Kelly Mpeku
Benetton: 15 Leonardo Marin, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Paolo Odogwu, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Riccardo Favretto, 5 Federico Ruzza (c), 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Bautista Bernasconi, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Siua Maile, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Giosué Zilocchi, 19 Scott Scrafton, 20 Eli Snyman, 21 Michele Lamaro, 22 Andy Uren, 23 Rhyno Smith
The Betting,
Lions -5.5 points at 9/10
Benetton +6.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 18 April 22h42
This line has been stable although there was some +7.5 Benetton whereas there is only +6.5 and +5.5 as I type this.
I am very interested in the points lines and will return with a bet in the morning.
Posted 19 April 10h43
The points line is a bit higher than I hoped at 56.5. The weather is overcast and cool in Joburg and there is certainly the threat of rain.
Lions points are generally around the 32.5 mark and as I am leabing to them on the handicap I will take some of the 30.5 on offer.
BET: 4 units Lions over 30.5 points at 17/20 at Sportingbet
Bet: to follow
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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