The Bulls host Saracens, the Stormers face Leicester at Welford Road and more from the opening round of the Champions Cup. Darry Worthington previews.
The 2023-24 Heineken Cup season gets underway on Friday, and this year’s tournament looks like it’ll be a blockbuster with the competition reverting back to its old structure of four pools with the top 4 teams in each pool, come the close of the regular season, advancing to the Round of 16.
There are some cracking fixtures set to take place in Round 1 with the highlights seeing La Rochelle take on Leinster in a repeat of last season’s final while two of Europe’s form teams, the Sale Sharks and Stade Francais, square off.
From a South African perspective, the Bulls welcome English outfit Saracens to Loftus while the Stormers take on the Leicester Tigers in England.
Saturday 9 December
Bulls 41/100 | Draw 20/1 | Saracens 21/10 (19:30)
Handicap
Bulls (-5.5) 17/20 | Saracens (+5.5) 17/20
The Bulls face a tricky opener here with Saracens packed with experienced international players including Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell. The latter seems to have overcome a minor injury that kept him out of Saracens’ 12-18 Gallagher Premiership loss to Northampton this past weekend.
While Saracens head into this one off the back of a disappointing defeat, the Bulls had a weekend to remember as they hammered local rivals the Hollywoodbets Sharks 44-10 in a one-sided URC clash. Stedman Gaans played an absolute blinder against the KZN side and I expect him to cause the Saracens midfield all sorts of problems, especially in the second stanza where fatigue will set in due to altitude.
Verdict: Saracens (+5.5) 17/20
The English side may luck out here with thunderstorms and a substantial amount of rain set to fall in Pretoria this weekend. A stop-start fixture, littered with handling errors would suit the visitors down to a tee. I reckon the plus handicap is the way to go in this one.
Sunday 10 December
Sale 2/9 | Draw 25/1 | Stade Francais 33/10 (15:00)
Handicap
Sale (-10.5) 17/20 | Stade (+10.5) 17/20
The next fixture should be an intriguing one with both the Sale Sharks and Stade Francais in decent form at the minute.
The hosts for Sunday’s encounter top the Gallagher Premiership standings with six wins from eight games. They do come into this one off the back of a heavy defeat, however, going down 36-3 to Harlequins at the Stoop last week.
Stade may not sit at the summit of their domestic league but they are having a good start to the Top 14 campaign winning six of their first nine fixtures. Unlike their opponents, Stade come into this one off the back of an eye-catching win as they beat reigning Top 14 champions Toulouse 27-12.
Both outfits have a couple of key players to keep an eye on with the visitors’ lynchpins being former Leicester Tigers man Zack Henry and Joris Segonds, who have been points-scoring machines, while George Ford has been a revelation at fly-half for Sale.
Verdict: Sale (-10.5) 17/20
French teams tend to struggle when travelling to England and I think we may see more evidence of that this weekend especially with a bit of rain floating around Manchester this Sunday. My money is on the hosts clearing the handicap here.
La Rochelle 11/10 | Draw | Leinster (17:15)
It’s the big one next up with a repeat of last year’s final as La Rochelle take on Leinster at the Stade Marcel Deflandre. They produced an absolute cracker of a game the last time they met with the French side sneaking a one-point win to claim the Champions Cup.
Leinster will be out for revenge this time around especially considering former Munster icon Ronan O’Gara is still at the La Rochelle helm.
The visitors come into this one in the best form of the two sides currently topping the United Rugby Championship with six wins from eight fixtures.
La Rochelle haven’t fared as well on the domestic front and currently sit ninth on the Top 14 ladder having only won four of their first nine games. They have been in decent form of late, however, winning three of their last four games with their most recent win coming against Perpignan this past weekend.
Verdict: Leinster 8/10
I reckon this one may well go the visitors way. La Rochelle are struggling at the minute while Leinster are in solid form
Leicester 1/6 | Draw 25/1 | Stormers 4/1 (19:30)
Handicap tba
Leicester | Stormers
The second and final fixture involving a South African team will see the Stormers make the trip to England to take on the Leicester Tigers. Both teams have endured rather patchy starts to their domestic campaigns with the Stormers lying tenth on the URC ladder having won three of their first seven, while Leicester are seventh in the Gallagher Premiership with four wins from seven fixtures.
In terms of the side’s most recent results, the visitors head for England off the back of a solid 31-7 home victory over Italian minnows Zerbe, while Leicester hammered Newcastle 47-3 with young Welshman Tommy Reffell impressing with a hat-trick.
Verdict: Leicester 1/6
The Stormers will have clocked up a lot of air miles come the kick-off of this one and they may well lag in the second stanza. I reckon it will be a tight affair but the early handicaps look well set so I’m going to avoid them and take Leicester on the straight.
Rapid Fire Tips
- Glasgow – v Northampton: The in-form Warriors should be too much to handle on home soil for Northampton.
- Connacht v Bordeaux: Neither of these sides have shot the lights out on the domestic front so far but I reckon Connacht will come out on top in Galway.
- Toulon – v Exeter: Both sides are in decent touch but I reckon home-ground advantage swings this on Toulon’s way.
- Bath – v Ulster: Bath have been in really good touch on the domestic front and I fancy them to bag a comfortable win here.
- Toulouse – v Cardiff: The visitors are in poor form and Toulouse are loaded with world-class talent. I can only foresee a big win for the French outfit here.
- Munster – v Bayonne: The Irish province are a far superior side to Bayonne. Big win for the hosts here.
- Bristol v Lyon – no bet as this one could go either way.
- Racing92 v Harlequins – this one has points galore written all over it. I’ll be having a big crack on the match totals over when the Live In-Play betting opens up.
