The Bulls host Edinburgh in their first action of the new United Rugby Championship season at Loftus on Saturday and after finishing as runners up last time around the home side are second favourites in the outright betting to win the title.
Bulls v Edinburgh, Saturday 28th September, Pretoria, KO 15:00 (South African time)
Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales)
Assistant referees: Griffon Colby (South African), Dylan November (South African)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
The Bulls finished as runners up to Glasgow Warriors in 2023/24. They finished second (to Munster) in the standings in the regular season with a record of 13 wins and 5 defeats before seeing off Benetton and Leinster in home play offs. They started as favourites for the final in front of their own supporters but came up short. The Bulls were also losing finalists (to the Stormers) in 2021/22.
When these teams met in Edinburgh in Round 5 of the 2023/24 season the Bulls were beaten 31-23.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls are 6/1 second favourites with BoyleSports who make Leinster (0.771) the team to beat.
Edinburgh:
Edinburgh started their tournament at home to Leinster last week and they went down 33-31. The try count was shared 5-5 with van der Merwe bagging a brace for Edinburgh and by way of consolation they bagged 2 bonus points.
Edinburgh finished eleventh on the standings in 2023/24 with a record of 11 wins and 7 defeats and their failure to secure bonus points saw them miss out on a play off spot by a single point.
On their visit to South Africa last season Edinburgh lost to the Stormers in Round 12 (43-21) and the Sharks in Round 13 (23-13).
In the outright betting to win the URC title Edinburgh are 38/1 shots with BoyleSports
Team News
Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Barend Smit, 11 Sebastian de Klerk, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 Cobus Wiese, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Armand van der Merwe (captain), 1 Alulutho Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Francois Kloppers, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Marcel Coetzee, 21 Keegan Johannes, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Aphiwe Dyantyi
Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Boan Venter, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Tom Dodd, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Ross McCann
The Betting,
Bulls -10.5 points at 9/10
Edinburgh +11.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
There has been some money for the Bulls with the handicap moving out from -8.5 early in the week to -10.5 and even -11.5 in places.
I am looking to the points lines and am going to agree with Southpaw in the forum that the quote is a few points too low. I also like Edinburgh points but will wait for more bookies to price up before getting involved.
Will post the bet in the forum thread if I take it
BET: 4 units Over 56.5 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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