The Stormers host the Sharks in Cape Town in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday and the home side are favourites on the bookmakers main handicap line
Stormers v Sharks, Saturday 28th December, Cape Town, KO 17:00 (South African time)
Referee: Aimee Barret-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: AJ Jacobs (South Africa) and Stephan Geldenhuys (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Weather Forecast – Cape Town
Stormers:
The Stormers finished the previous round unchanged in thirteenth position but they made up some ground and now have 16 log points and a play off spot is back in range. They have 3 wins and 4 defeats against their name and in the outright betting to win the URC title the Stormers are 20/1 shots.
Last weekend the Stormers saw off the Lions 29-10 in Cape Town, covering a -7.5 point handicap and scoring 5 tries to 2 to land a bonus point. In URC Round 7 they went down 21-15 in the first clash against the Sharks in Durban, picking up no more than a consolation bonus point.
In earlier home games the Stormers had too much for Munster, coming out on top 34-19 in Cape Town in Round 5 but a week later a clash with Glasgow Warriors in Stellenbosch ended in a 28-17 defeat.
Sharks:
The Sharks URC record comprises of 5 wins and 2 defeats for 23 log points, they finished the previous round in fourth position in the standings and in the outright betting they are 12/1 to win the URC title.
The Sharks chalked up a fourth straight home win when they edged out the Bulls 20-17 in a derby clash in Durban last week. They started as favourites at around -4.5 points but were missing some key players, the try count ended 2 a piece and the Sharks are now just 2 log points and 1 position behind the Bulls in the standings.
The Sharks first home game of the season saw them beat the defending champions Glasgow Warriors 28-24, they also put Munster away 41-24 and in Round 7 that first local derby of the campaign at home to the Stormers delivered a 21-15 victory.
Team News
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Neethling Fouché, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Jean-Luc du Plessis
Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Siya Kolisi (captain), 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Dylan Richardson, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Bryce Calvert, 17 Ruan Dreyer, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Corne Rahl, 20 Nicholas Hatton, 21 Bradley Davids, 22 Siya Masuku, 23 Francois Venter
The Betting,
Stormers -5.5 points at 9/10
Sharks +5.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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