The Bulls host the unbeaten Union Bordeaux-Begles in their final European Champions Cup Pool 1 match at Loftus on Saturday and the home side start as the bookmakers favourites
Bulls v Union Bordeaux-Begles, Saturday 20th January, Pretoria, KO 15:00 (South African time)
Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng)
Assistant Referees: Adam Leal (Eng) , John Meredith (Eng)
TMO: Hamish Smales (Eng)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
The Bulls have 2 wins and 1 defeat to show for their efforts so far and they are in third spot in the pool with 10 log points, 5 shy of UBB, 2 behind Lyon and 5 in front of Bristol and Saracens with Connacht cut adrift on 1 point. The Bulls need a point to qualify for the last 16 whilst a win would give them a shot at a home tie depending on how Lyon get on away to Saracens later in the day.
In Round 3 the Bulls rested a number of Boks for the visit to Bristol, they started around 3.5 point underdogs but picked up a bonus point win, 31-17. The Bulls beat Saracens 27-16 in their opening match at Loftus whilst for the Round 2 visit to Lyon the Bulls also left a number of regular starters at home. They led 18-12 at half time but the French side turned things around to edge it 29-28.
In the outright betting to win the Champions Cup the Bulls are 13/1 shots with BoyleSports
Union Bordeaux-Begles
With 3 wins from 3 matches UBB top Pool 1 with 15 points and whatever happens here they will be appearing in the Round of 16.
Their results comprise of a 41-5 demolition of Connacht in Galway and they followed up with a 36-17 home win over Bristol Bears. In round 3 last weekend Bordeaux thrashed Saracens 55-15 in a home fixture.
In the French Top 14 UBB are in second spot with a record of 8 wins and 4 defeats and they are 4 points behind log leaders Racing 92.
In the outright betting to win the Champions Cup Bordeaux are 72/10 shots with BoyleSports
Team News
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 David Kriel, 11 Devon Williams, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Mpilo Gumede, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Reinhardt Ludwig, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Cornal Hendricks
Bordeaux-Begles: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Madosh Tambwe, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 12 Pablo Uberti, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Zack Holmes, 9 Paul Abadie, 8 Pete Samu, 7 Marko Gazzotti, 6 Pierre Bochaton, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Clément Maynadier, 1 Jefferson Poirot (c)
Replacements: 16 Maxime Lamothe, 17 Ugo Boniface, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Alexandre Ricard, 20 Antoine Miquel, 21 Tevita Tatafu, 22 Théo Nanette, 23 Matéo Garcia
The Betting
Bulls -11.5 points at 9/10
Bordeaux +11.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
There was some -8.5 Bulls early in the week and that moved out to -10.5 on word that Bordeaux would be resting a few key players. The line hasn’t moved following team selection and Bordeaux in my opinion are still putting out a strong side capable of troubling the Bulls.
I think the handicap is well set so check back Saturday morning for my play once I have had a chance to digest the points markets which are not up yet.
In the meantime stay close to our forum thread where I will post any additional bets and other punters share their plays
Update: 20 Jan 08h45
The points lines are up but at 60.5 they are a good handful higher than what I was hoping for. The bet I was eyeing out was Bordeaux overs but at 23.5 I am not that confident.
With both teams qualified I do think we will get a free flowing game and I am going to stick with my original view and will have a punt on Bordeaux overs.
BET: 4 units Bordeaux over 23.5 points at 9/10 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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