We have reached the quarter-finals of the United Rugby Championship and we take a look at the betting on all 4 of this weekend’s matches.
Leinster have been trading as 5/10 favourites to win the Title all season and they have now shortened in to 40/85 ahead of their home quarter-final with the Sharks. The Stormers and Ulster are priced at 7/1, you can get 9/1 Munster and 15/1 the Bulls. The Sharks are trading at 20/1 with 22/1 Glasgow and Connacht priced at 29/1.
Click here for the latest United Rugby Championship Outright Betting
FRIDAY
Ulster v Connacht – Click here to bet
Ulster finished runner-up to Leinster on the log, level on points with the Stormers, but having had more victories. They ended their campaign with a hard fought 28-14 win over Edinburgh at home.
Connacht finished 7th on the log after going down 29-27 away to the Glasgow Warriors in their final match.
These sides met twice in the regular season with Ulster beating Connacht 22-20 on the road and winning 36-10 at home.
Handicap: Ulster -10.5
I think the handicap for this game is well set, but I think we are in for a tight encounter and I am going to bet that we get 50 points or less in the game.
Suggested Bet: Under 50.5 points at 19/20
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SATURDAY
Stormers v Blue Bulls – click here to bet
The Stormers finished 3rd on the log after finishing their season with a 38-22 victory over Benetton at home.
They face the Bulls who finished 6th after hammering a very young Leinster side 62-7 at home in their final match. The Bulls fielded a number of their URC players in a Currie Cup fixture against Western Province in Cape Town last week, but the move backfired and the Western Province Currie Cup team won the game.
The Bulls went down to the Stormers by 4 points at home in the regular season and they lost by 10 points in Cape Town.
Handicap: Stormers -6.5
The Stormers have had the better of the Bulls of late and I am expecting that to continue with the Stormers winning by 6 points or more.
Suggested Bet: Handicap, Stormers -56.5 at 19/20
Leinster v Sharks – Click here to bet
Leinster are coming off a Heineken Champions Cup semi-final win over Toulouse at home and they ended the URC season with a young side playing in South Africa and narrowly beating the Lions before getting hammered by the Bulls. They still finished comfortably at the top of the log.
The Sharks finished in 8th place after a disappointing 22-22 home draw against Munster last time out, a game where they led 19-3 at one stage.
Leinster hosted the Sharks back in Week 4 and after the Sharks stayed in touch early they ran out comfortable 54-34 winners.
Handicap: Leinster -17.5
This should be a tight contest early in what look like being poor conditions. I am betting we don’t reach 28 points in the 1st half
Suggested Bet: First-Half points under 27.5 at 5/6.
Glasgow v Munster – Click here to bet
Glasgow were impressive last week booking their spot in the Challenge Cup semi-final with an away win over the Scarlets. They finished the season in 4th place with a hard fought 29-27 home win over Connacht on the final weekend.
Munster finished 5th and despite not needing to perform against the Sharks away they managed to play out a 22 all draw, a result that broke many a Sharks punters heart.
Glasgow hosted Munster in the regular season beating them 17-11.
Handicap: Glasgow +0.5
Glasgow may now have an eye on the Challenge Cup final and I am going for Munster to score an away win here.
Suggested Bet: Munster win at 19/20
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change