The Sharks begin their United Rugby Championship season on Friday when they head to Parma to take on Zebre
Zebre v Sharks, Friday 23rd September, Parma, KO 18:30 (South African time)
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: Federico Vedovelli (Italy), Dante D’elia (Italy)
TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)
Weather Forecast - Parma
Zebre:
Zebre were in action last weekend in the opening round and they ran outright title favourites Leinster close at this venue. They eventually went down 33-29 in a game of 5 tries each and Zebre included South African's MJ Pelser, Richard Kriel and Franco Smith in their line up.
The 2021/22 URC season saw Zebre finish with the wooden spoon with a record of 1 win and 17 defeats. They collected just 9 log points and when coming up against South African sides they crashed to a 55-7 defeat to the Stormers in Stellenbosch and they were beaten 45-7 by the Bulls and 38-26 by the Lions in home fixtures. When Zebre visited the Sharks in Durban they lost 38-6 and their only victory came at home to the Dragons towards the end of the season.
Sharks:
The Sharks finished fifth in the overall standings last season with a record of 11 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats. They were just 1 point shy of the Bulls and 4 behind the Stormers who both went on to contest the final whilst the Sharks bowed out in the first round of the play offs, going down narrowly to the Bulls in a Loftus quarter final
In terms of the outright betting to win the tournament this season the Sharks are 17/2 third favourites with World Sports Betting who have the Stormers priced at 9/1, the Bulls at 10/1 and the Lions 110/1. Leinster top the outright winner betting board at 11/20 with Munster at 15/2.
The Sharks edged out the Lions 45-43 and also beat the Stormers 21-12 in a recent warm up matches. On the team news front Curwin Bosch and Lionel Cronje are both injured.. Lukhanyo Am is also out long term and the treatment room is busy.
Team News
Zebre: 15 Richard Kriel, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Erich Cronjé, 12 Enrico Lucchin, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Tiff Eden, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Taina Fox-Matamua, 7 MJ Pelser, 6 Luca Andreani, 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 David Sisi (captain), 3 Ion Neculai, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Paolo Buonfiglio.
Replacements: 16 Giampietro Ribaldi, 17 Juan Pitinari, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Joshua Furno, 20 Gabriele Venditti, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Franco Smith Jr, 23 Jacopo Trulla
Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Ben Tapuai, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Boeta Chamerlain, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Phendulani Buthelezi, 7 Dylan Richardson, 6 James Venter, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Gerbrandt Grobler, 3 Thomas du Toit (captain), 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 Dan Jooste, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 Justin Basson, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Fred Zeilinga, 23 Marnus Potgieter
The Betting - Risk Free First Bet Up to R2,000 back if you don't win
Zebre +17.5 points at 9/10
Sharks -16.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Click here for the video preview of the match and the views of @Haribaldijones @OracleRugby and @TheConductor
Zebre were impressive last week but on paper the Sharks should win this comfortably. I think the handicap is well set though and have come across punters in both camps.
The total points line is 56.5 and although the conditions will be good I think this is an unders play. The Sharks are not known for putting teams away and although Zebre scored a few against a virtual 2nd strong Leinster side I expect the Sharks to keep them out.
I will have bigger plays this weekend but a small interest on the unders.
Bet: 3 units under 56.5 points at Sportingbet*
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Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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