The Bulls host Lyon European Champions Cup Round of 16 at Loftus on Saturday and the home side start as the bookmakers favourites
Bulls v Lyon, Saturday 6th April, Pretoria, KO 13:30 (South African time)
Referee: Luke Pearce (Eng)
Assistant Referees: Sara Cox (Eng) , Adam Leal (Eng)
TMO: Tom Foley (Eng)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
The Bulls finished as runners up to Bordeaux in their pool, winning 3 and losing 1 of their matches and their only defeat came in Round 2 away to their opponents here. They went down 29-28 in Lyon but they had left a number of regular starters at home. The Bulls beat Saracens 27-16 in their opening match at Loftus and also picked up a 31-17 win away to Bristol. In the final pool game they were 46-40 winners at home to Bordeaux.
Although the Bulls crashed to a 47-14 defeat to Leinster in Dublin in the URC last weekend they are unbeaten at Loftus in that competition and they are in third spot in the standings.
In the outright betting to win the Champions Cup the Bulls are 13/1 shots with BoyleSports
Lyon
Lyon finished third in the same pool as the Bulls winning 2 and losing 2 of their matches. They lost 36-34 away to Bristol Bears before the narrow win at home to the Bulls. A 34-20 home win over Connacht put them in the pound seats for a last 16 spot before they lost their final pool match 39-24 away to Saracens.
In the French Top 14 Lyon are twelfth in the standings with 9 wins and 11 defeats against their name.
In the outright betting to win the Champions Cup Lyon are the rank outsiders at almost 200/1 with BoyleSports
The Betting
Bulls -20.5 points at 9/10
Lyon +21.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
This handicap has been stable at Bulls -17.5 all week. Lyon know they are unlikely to progress in this Tournament and I expect them to field a weaker side. The Bulls should be too strong here, but rather than the handicap I am going to have a go at Bulls, overs points as I think they could run this Lyon side off their feet, but I am also a bit worried Lyon could score a couple of consolations.
Update 6 March 10h23
The money has come for the Bulls and they are now -21.5. There is still some -18.5 on offer at Boylesports at the time of posting.
The early kick off means we should avoid the expected thunderstorms and I think we are in for a high scoring game.
Bulls overs is my bet here.
BET: 5 units Bulls over 39.5 points at 10/11 at Pokerbet*
*Pokerbet are generally 1st to market with rugby points lines – click here to open an account
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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