Just four sides remain in the URC this season, with the Bulls looking to progress to their second final when they host Champions Cup runners-up Leinster at Loftus Versfeld while defending champions Munster can secure a home Grand Final with victory over a valiant Glasgow Warriors outfit at Thomond Park.
Saturday 15 June
Bulls 37/20 | Draw 22/1 | Leinster 9/20 (16:00)
Handicap
Bulls (+5.5) 9/10 | Leinster (-5.5) 9/10
Much has been made in the build-up to Saturday’s clash at Loftus about who exactly the favourites are, with both camps naming the other in some classic pre-game psychological warfare. In the end though it’s the Irish juggernaut that the bookies have backed in what should be a game played with quasi-Test match intensity.
Jake White’s side will have altitude and the Loftus crowd in their favour, although the injury-enforced absences of Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie will dent their efforts. The Bulls have the distinction of having famously knocked the four-time European champions out of a reverse URC semi-final encounter in Dublin two seasons back, something White would certainly have been using to motivate his team this week.
That said, Leinster claimed a convincing 47-14 win over the Bulls at the RDS Arena in March which will give them plenty to draw on. Theirs is an Ireland Test team in all but name who will relish the chance to make a statement ahead of the July internationals and set up a potential Grand Final against bitter foes Munster.
Verdict: Bulls (+5.5) 9/10
Expect Saturday’s showstopper to go the way of the visitors, whose pent-up frustrations from several seasons of disappointment should lift them to a narrow win against the Bulls.
Munster 2/7 | Draw 25/1 | Glasgow Warriors 11/4 (19:00)
Handicap
Munster (-8.5) 9/10 | Glasgow (+8.5) 9/10
Former Scotland prop Peter Wright recently described how Glasgow and Munster “hate each other massively”, serving to illustrate just how intense this rivalry is in the UK ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash.
Graham Rowntree’s boys have gone up a level since their URC championship victory of a year ago, finishing the round-robin stages at No 1 and highly favoured to progress to a second straight final. Although their Champions Cup campaign ended in round of 16 disappointment at recently crowned English champions Northampton Saints, the Red Army have used that as fuel to focus fully on URC matters – they’ve won their last six matches since that defeat and their last 10 in the competition in total.
Glasgow have been a force themselves this season, finishing just three points shy of their semi-final opponents and even topping the standings before their two-game tour of South Africa last month. Their 27-10 win over the Stormers in last week’s quarterfinal, while by no means a walkover, was well deserved and will serve the side well as they look to avenge their 40-29 defeat at Thomond Park in December.
Verdict: Munster 2/7
The wet conditions in Limerick may play into the hosts’ hands given how Warriors tend to attack. No team has beaten more defenders (485) or made more clean breaks (183) than Glasgow this season, but the forecasted conditions mean they may be unable to utilise these strengths come matchday.
