After making a strong start to the URC, the Bulls continue their overseas tour, and will tackle the Scarlets on Friday night (20:35 kick off SA time).
The Bulls – 2023/24 finalists – will be hunting their fourth victory in a row this season when they take on the Scarlets who come off their first victory last week against Cardiff away – a result that boost their confidence going into the clash.
YOU CAN FOLLOW THE BULLS’ LIVE SCORING IN THE URC BELOW:
MATCH INFORMATION
Teams:
Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Johnny Williams, 12 Eddie James, 11 Blair Murray, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Josh Macleod (captain), 6 Max Douglas, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias.
Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Jac Price, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Efan Jones, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Macs Page.
Bulls: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Boeta Chamberlain, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Kuyenzeka Xaba, 5 Cobus Wiese, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Armand van der Merwe (captain), 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Celimpilo Gumede, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Chris Barend Smit, 23 Stedman Gans.
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales) and Nathan James (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Penne (Italy)
The Bulls’ confidence will be bolstered by the fact that they have scored 15 more points than the Scarlets in three outings to the Welsh outfit’s four, while they have also conceded 31 points fewer in these matches.
They will, however, be careful to write off the Scarlets, who played to a 20-20 draw against Benetton away in their opening game of the season, before suffering a nine-point defeat against Cardiff, and heart-breaking one-point defeat against Glasgow on their home ground in their last two outings.
These results will undoubtedly fuel their motivation to bounce back with a bang and to do their best to possibly lunge into the top eight on the standings.
The teams have met in the competition on three previous occasions with the Vodacom Bulls winning two of those matches – both in Pretoria with 57 points or more – but they suffered a 37-28 defeat against the Scarlets in Wales last season – a defeat they will certainly want to set right.
What is your score prediction?
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