The first of Saturday's United Rugby Championship quarter finals comes from Loftus where the Bulls start as firm favourites for their clash with Edinburgh.
Bulls v Edinburgh, Saturday 31st May, Pretoria, KO 13:30 (South African time)
Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Peter Martin (Ireland)
TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)
Weather Forecast – Pretoria
Bulls:
The Bulls finished second on the log, 8 points behind Leinster and 6 better off than the third place Sharks. Last season's beaten finalists finished the current campaign with an overall record of 14 wins and 4 defeats and should they win here they will also have home advantage in the semis.
The Bulls won each of their last 6 in the URC including 2 big wins overseas against play off rivals, 16-13 at Munster in Round 15 and they beat the Warriors 26-19 in Glasgow in Round 16. Their 4 defeats came away to the Scarlets and the Sharks, they also lost the return at home to the Sharks and the Stormers also won at Loftus. Back in Round 2 they hosted Saturday's opponents Edinburgh and they came out on top 22-16.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Bulls are 4/1 second favourites with WSB.
Edinburgh:
Edinburgh had to wait until the final round of the regular season to seal their play off place with a 47-17 home win over Ulster. They finished 7th in the standings with a record of 8 wins, 1 draw and 9 defeats and their tally of 49 log points was 19 inferior to the Bulls.
Aside from the defeat to the Bulls at Loftus (22-16) Edinburgh were thumped 55-21 by the Lions in Joburg in Round 3, they beat the Stormers 38-7 in a Round 4 home fixture and lost at home to the Sharks 18-17 in Round 15.
Edinburgh also came up against SA opposition in the Challenge Cup play offs, seeing off the Lions 24-12 in a Round of 16 home fixture before getting the better of the Bulls 34-28 in a home quarter final. Edinburgh then lost 39-24 at home to Bath in the semis of that tournament.
In the outright betting to win the URC title Edinburgh are 150/1 shots with WSB.
Team News
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Voster, 11 Sevastian de Klerk, 10 Keagan Johannes, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Ruan Nortje (captain), 6 Marcel Coetzee, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Replacements: 16 Simphiwe Matanzima, 17 Akker van der Merwe, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Jannes Kirsten, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Devon Williams
Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Harry Paterson, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury (c), 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Sam Skinner, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Paddy Harrison, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Liam McConnell, 20 Ben Muncaster, 21 Conor McAlpine, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Mark Bennett
The Betting,
Updated 30 May 21h18
Bulls -17.5 points at 9/10
Edinburgh +18.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 29 May 09h12
There has not been alot of movement in this handicap and in what should be perfect Loftus conditions I am looking forward to team news and points lines.
Posted 30 May 21h28
No real surprises on the team news front but the Bulls have moved from -17.5 to -18.5 in places.
The points line is 55.5 and although this is a quarter-final this looks an overs play in what should be excellent conditions.
Being a quarter-final teams may take some 3 pointers early and I won't mind if the scoreboard keeps moving.
At some point though I reckon this opens up.
BET: 5 units over 55.5 points at 19/20 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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