Edinburgh host the Lions in Round 4 of the United Rugby Championship at Hive Stadium on Friday night. The Scottish side have won all three of their URC matches this season and sit at the top of the table, while the Lions will be looking to bounce back from heavy defeats against the Bulls and La Rochelle.
Edinburgh v Lions, Friday 23rd October, Hive Stadium, Edinburgh, kick-off 20:45 SAST
Referee: Peter Martin (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Rob McDowell (Scotland)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)
Weather Forecast – Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh have made a perfect start to their URC campaign and head into Round 4 at the top of the table with 14 points.
They opened their season with a 34-29 bonus-point victory away to Ulster before beating the Stormers 17-13 at Hive Stadium. Edinburgh then made it three wins from three with a 29-12 bonus-point victory away to Zebre.
Their winning start to the season came to an end in the opening round of the Challenge Cup, where they were beaten 27-17 at home by Toulon.
Lions
The Lions began their URC campaign with a narrow 27-26 victory over defending champions Leinster at Ellis Park before beating the Ospreys 35-19 in Round 2.
Their unbeaten start came to an abrupt end at Loftus Versfeld, where they suffered a heavy 57-15 defeat against the Bulls.
The Lions then travelled to France for their opening Champions Cup match against La Rochelle under exceptionally difficult circumstances following the tragic passing of Hyron Andrews. They chose to play the match in his honour and were beaten 31-14.
Recent URC head-to-head results
21 March 2026: LIONS 54-17 Edinburgh – Johannesburg
5 October 2024: LIONS 55-21 Edinburgh – Johannesburg
28 October 2023: EDINBURGH 17-16 Lions – Edinburgh
7 October 2022: Edinburgh 19-22 LIONS – Edinburgh
The Lions have won three of the four URC meetings between the sides, including both matches played in Johannesburg. Their only URC defeat against Edinburgh came by a single point at Hive Stadium in October 2023.
Team news
Edinburgh: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Geordie Gwynn, 13 Matt Currie (co-c), 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 James Grayson, 9 Hector Patterson, 8 Magnus Bradbury (co-c), 7 Tom Currie, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Glen Young, 3 Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Harri Morris, 17 Jamie Stewart, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Tom Dodd, 21 Conor McAlpine, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Harry Paterson.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Kelly Mpeku, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Erich Cronjé, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horne, 7 Batho Hlekani, 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Morné Brandon, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements:16 PJ Botha, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Dylan Sjoblom, 20 Siba Mahashe, 21 Zian Cilliers, 22 Richard Kriel, 23 Boeta Chamberlain
The Betting
Updated 22 October
Edinburgh -7.5 points
Lions +8.5 points
Odds quoted were available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Bet: 2.5 units (1–5), Edinburgh -7.5 points at 9/10 at Sportingbet
For an explanation on the bet and for all our URC bets keep an eye on the Round 4 betting blog.
See what other punters fancy and have your say in the Goodforthegame Rugby Forum thread.
Disclaimer: Odds are subject to change. Please gamble responsibly. No bet is guaranteed to win. Please only bet what you can afford to lose.