After suffering a first defeat of the season last week the Bulls bid to bounce back when they take on Benetton in Round 6 of the United Rugby Championship in Trevisio on Friday
Benetton v Bulls, Friday 25th October, Trevisio, KO 20:35 (South African time)
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrea Piardi (Italy), Franco Rosella (Italy)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
Weather Forecast – Trevisio
Benetton:
After 5 rounds of matches Benetton have a record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats and they are just inside the play off spots with 12 log points.
They come into Round 6 seeking a third successive win after seeing off the Sharks 38-10 at this venue in Round 4 and last weekend they followed up with a 31-21 victory away to the Dragons.
In earlier matches Benetton drew 20-20 at home to the Scarlets in the opening round and 2 tough matches thereafter saw them beaten 42-10 away to defending champions Glasgow Warriors and in Round 3 they went down 35-5 at home to Leinster.
Last season Benetton edged out the Lions (15-10) and the Stormers (20-17) at this venue they lost to the Bulls (56-35) in Round 17 but still made it to the quarter finals where they were again beaten by the Bulls (30-23) at Loftus.
In the outright betting to win the URC title Benetton are 90/1 shots with BoyleSports.
Bulls:
The Bulls slipped to a first defeat of the season in Round 5 when they were edged out 23-22 away to the Scarlets last weekend. They were 10.5 point favourites on the handicap and led by 9 points at half time but the lead was reduced before Johan Grobbelaar picked up a red card in the final quarter and the Scarlets subsequently got their noses in front.
The Bulls started their tournament with a 22-16 home win over Edinburgh in Round 2 and in Round 2 they saw off Ulster 47-21 at Loftus. Their first tour match delivered a 29-19 win over the Ospreys.
The Bulls now have 3 wins and 1 defeat against their name and with 15 log points they are fourth in the standings, 10 adrift of pace setters Leinster and 3 shy of the Lions and Glasgow Warriors, remember all the South African sides have a game in hand.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls are 58/10 second favourites with BoyleSports who make Leinster (0.71/1) the team to beat.
Team News
Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Paul Odogwu, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Matt Gallagher, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannon, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Alexander Izekor, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Siua Maile, 1 Mirco Spanish
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Enzo Avaca, 19 Eli Snyman, 20 Sebastian Blacks, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Andy Uren, 23 Jacob Umaga
Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 David Kriel, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Boeta Chamberlain, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Elrigh Louw (captain), 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Alulutho Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Keegan Johannes, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Sebastian de Klerk
The Betting,
Update 25 October 08h54
Benetton +2.5 points at 9/10
Bulls -1.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Money has been coming for the visitors with the opening +4.5 now gone and the current handicap ranging from +1.5 Benetton to +2.5.
I capped it Benetton +3.5 in my Sunday Night exercise so I don’t see any real value although am leaning Bulls.
It is the points line of 42.5 which catches my eye. It is a cool overcast day but there doesn’t appear to be much rain about and the forecast indicates the weather may come in after the game.
My main worry is the playing surface which has been poor but I just feel the current line is 2-3 points too low taking everything into account.
This line would have arrived in both Bulls away games in the last 2 weeks.
BET: 5 units over 42.5 points at 9/10 at Pokerbet*
*You can open a Pokerbet Account by clicking here
Update 25 October 18h55
The market has moved against me and you can now get 1/1 over 41.5 at Boylesports - the forecast has been changing and I still thinks its an overs play
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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