Edinburgh host the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday, an opportunity for either side to improve on their mid table position.
Edinburgh v Sharks, Saturday 28th January, Edinburgh, KO 19:15 (South African time)
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Jonny Perriam (Scotland), Ru Campbell (Scotland)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (Italy)
Weather Forecast - Edinburgh
Edinburgh:
Edinburgh qualified for the Heineken Cup Round of 16 having finished fifth in Pool A with 3 wins and 1 defeat. A 20-14 home win over Saracens last weekend set up a visit to Leicester in the first knockout round.
In the URC Edinburgh have a record of 5 win and 7 defeats. They are in mid table in the standings with 30 points, third best in the Scottish / Italian Shield behind Glasgow Warriors and Benetton. They snapped a 4 match losing streak with a 24-17 win over bottom of the table Zebre in the previous round. Earlier in the tournament against SA sides they lost 33-31 at the Bulls in Round 2 and 34-18 at the Stormers a week later. In Round 4 they hosted the Lions and they were edged out 22-19.
In the outright betting to win the tournament Edinburgh are 40/1 shots.
Sharks:
The Sharks were also drawn in Pool A of the Heineken Cup, they won their first 3 matches before going down 39-29 at Harkequins last week but they finished third and will host Munster in the Round of 16.
In the URC the Sharks are 1 point and 1 place worse off than Edinburgh but they have played 2 games fewer. They went down 24-12 at Connacht in the previous round at a time when they were focusing the bulk of their resources on the Heineken Cup. One earlier game against a Scots side saw the Sharks beat Glasgow Warriors 40-12 in Durban in Round 5.
The Sharks are third in the SA Shield, 10 points behind the Bulls with 2 games in hand and 16 shy of the Stormers with 1 game in hand.
When these teams met last season Edinburgh won 21-5 in Durban.
In the outright betting to win the tournament the Sharks are 10/1 shots.
Team News
Edinburgh: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Mark Bennett (c), 12 James Lang, 11 Jack Blain, 10 Charlie Savala, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Nick Haining, 5 Glen Young, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 Murray McCallum, 2 Adam McBurney, 1 Boan Venter.
Subs: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Luan de Bruin, 18 Lee-Roy Atalifo, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Ben Muncaster, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Cammy Hutchison
Sharks:15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Marnus Potgieter, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi (captain), 7 Henco Venter, 6 James Venter, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Hyron Andrews, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Dan Jooste, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Carlü Sadie, 19 Reniel Hugo, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Lionel Cronje, 23 Yaw Penxe
The Betting - Risk Free First Bet Up to R2,000 back if you don't win
Edinburgh -0.5 points at 9/10
Sharks +1.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Edinburgh are unable to select a host of Internationals and there was some +6.5 Sharks available earlier in the week which was quickly devoured.
The Sharks are slight underdogs on most books and on last night’s THE HANDICAP, our Rugby Betting Show the majority of punters in the live chat were united that the Sharks could win this by a good few points, a victory they certainly need given where they are on the table.
At the time of posting there is still 12/10 Sharks available although I am under no illusions this will last. I would suggest the same bet at 1/1 or better which is freely available.
BET: 6 units Sharks win at 12/10 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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