After lifting the Currie Cup last week the Sharks turn their attention to the United Rugby Championship and their first match comes against Connacht in Galway on Saturday

Connacht v Sharks, Saturday 28th September, Galway, KO 20:35 (South African time)

Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
Assistant referees: Eoghan Cross (Ireland), Paul Haycock (Ireland)
TMO: Stefano Penne (Italy)

Weather Forecast - Galway

Connacht:

Connacht started their URC season with a 35-33 defeat away to Munster last weekend, a game of 10 tries with both sides scoring 5 a piece and they picked up 2 log points.

Connacht finished eleventh in the standings last season with a record of 9 wins and 9 defeats and their tally of 45 log points was 5 shy of the play off places. They beat the Sharks 13-12 in Durban in Round 5 but when hosting South African sides they lost to the Lions 38-14 and the Stormers 16-12.

In the outright betting Connacht are 75/1 to win the URC with BoyleSports.

Sharks:

The Sharks begin their bid for more silverware on the back of a nail-biting win away to the Lions in last week's Currie Cup final.

Last season's URC campaign began disastrously with 5 straight defeats, two of which came in Ireland at Munster 34-21 and Leinster 34-13. They eventually finished third bottom with 4 wins and 14 defeats but they prioritized the EPCR Challenge Cup which they won, beating Gloucester in the final in London.

After this the Sharks remain in Europe for matches against the Dragons and Benetton.

In the outright betting the Sharks are 20/1 to win the URC with BoyleSports.

Team News

Connacht: 15 Santiago Cordero, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Piers O’Conor, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Shane Jennings, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Cian Prendergast (captain), 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Josh Murphy, 5 David O’Connor,  4 Niall Murray, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley.

Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Oisín Dowling, 20 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 David Hawkshaw, 23 Paul Boyle

Sharks: 15 Jordan Hendrikse, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Bradley Davids, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka (captain), 6 James Venter, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Dylan Richardson, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.

Replacements: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Corne’ Rahl, 20 Reniel Hugo, 21 Tino Mavesere, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Gurswin Wehr

The Betting,

Connacht -6.5 points at 9/10

Sharks +6.5 points at 9/10

Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.

Betting Angle

The Sharks are putting out a strong team and while impressed with Connacht last week I think the Sharks can push them here. I was toying with the +6.5 but have decided to put my head down and go for an away win.

The points line is 47.5 and while in the overs camp I am going to wait until closer to kick off to assess conditions and will post any bets in the forum

BET: 2 units Sharks win at 9/4 at Boylesports*

* Click Here To Open An Account @Boylesports

Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.

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