After picking up their first win of the new United Rugby Championship season in Wales last week the Sharks now head to Treviso for Saturday's Round 4 clash with Benetton
Benetton v Sharks, Saturday 12th October, Trevisio, KO 16:00 (South African time)
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Federico Vedovelli (Italy), Alex Frasson (Italy)
TMO: Colin Brett (Scotland)
Weather Forecast – Trevisio
Benetton:
After playing in each of the first 3 rounds of matches Benetton are still looking for their first win and they are bottom of the standings with just the 2 log points and a points difference of -67.
They drew 20-20 at home to the Scarlets in the opening round and 2 tough matches since then have seen 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 beat the Sharks 25-24 in Durban in Round 16 when the Sharks were focusing on the EPCR. Benetton's home games against SA sides in 2023/24 delivered a 15-10 win over the Lions and a 20-17 victory over the Stormers. They made it to the quarter finals where they were beaten by the Bulls (30-23) at Loftus.
In the outright betting to win the URC title Benetton are 120/1 shots with BoyleSports.
Sharks:
The Sharks needed an 85th minute try to come away from Newport with a 33-30 victory over the Dragons in Round 3. Fez Mbatha came off the bench for the all important score in a game the Sharks trailed 22-5 at one stage in the first half. The Sharks, who were 7.5 point favourites on the main handicap line, scored 5 tries to the Dragons 4 to secure a bonus point.
The Sharks first action of the URC season came away to Connacht in Round 2. They were underdogs, given around 6.5 points start on the bookmakers main handicap line and that proved to be accurate as Connacht came out on top 36-30 with the home side scoring 5 tries to 3. It had looked so promising for the Sharks at half time after they led 27-7 but their only score in the second half came from a penalty at the death which salvaged a losing bonus point.
The Sharks come into the round in mid table with 6 log points and after this they will return home to take on Glasgow Warriors in Durban.
In the outright betting the Sharks are 18.5/1 to win the URC with BoyleSports.
Team News
Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Paolo Odogwu, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Enzo Avaca, 2 Siua Maile, 1 Mirco Spagnolo
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Destiny Aminu, 18 Marcos Gallorini, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Eli Snyman, 21 Sebastian Negri, 22 Andy Uren, 23 Leonardo Marin
Sharks: 15 Jordan Hendrikse, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Vincent Tshituka (captain), 6 James Venter, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Corne’ Rahl, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Bradley Davids, 22 Lionel Cronje, 23 Francois Venter
The Betting,
Updated 10 October 23h12
Benetton -1.5 points at 9/10
Sharks +2.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
The Sharks made heavy weather of beating the Dragons last week but I think they would have taken a lot from the way they came back and applied pressure to get the win.
They face a Benetton side that were totally outplayed in the 1st half against Leinster but that could also take something positive from their 2nd half showing.
I handicapped this game Sharks -3.5 in my Sunday night exercise. I like the team they have selected and will back them on the board.
The total points line is 48.5 and in what look like mild conditions I am leaning overs but am a bit weary of the surface which has not looked great.
If I get involved I will update this preview.
BET: 4 units Sharks win at 13/10 at Sportingbet*
*If you don’t have a Sportingbet account please use this link to open one
Update 12 October 09h45
The Sharks line of 22.5 points feels too low and I am following Southpaw in the Goodforthegame forum and am firing the over 22.5.
BET: 5 units Sharks over 22.5 points at 9/10 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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