Northward bound: Still the right move for South African rugby?
So the dust has settled on the inaugural United Rugby Championship tournament, with the Stormers celebrating a deserved first championship win over the Bulls…
The Bulls are the overwhelming favourites when they come up against the Sunwolves at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. Join The Roar for live scores from the match, starting from 4am AEDT.
In a Super Rugby competition that is at least for a little while longer an eighteen-team organisation, the Bulls and the Sunwolves are two of just three teams who, in three rounds so far, have not claimed a win.
The Bulls have a little more good reason – they have only played the two matches, and had a bye last week.
They suffered a 37-24 loss to the Stormers in Round 1, which was not unexpected, but would’ve been disappointed to lose again in Round 2, to the Cheetahs, with a final score of 34-28.
The Sunwolves, on the other hand, have struggled to start the year and with a points difference of -87 are worse off than every other team, bar the remarkably well-beaten Melbourne Rebels.
They were smashed 17-83 at home by the Hurricanes in Round 1, then lost 23-37 to fellow battlers the Kings again at home.
They travelled to play the Cheetahs in Round 3 and put in their best effort yet, but it wasn’t enough, and they went down by seven points, 38-31.
The sides have played twice so far in history for two wins to the Blues – a close one early last year, 30-27, and a more dominant 50-3 later in the season.
It’s not hard to see why the Bulls are entering this one as the favourites to take their first win of the season.
Prediction
The Bulls are a better team than their two-game record suggests and with a week off to rest, and the home ground advantage, they should take a very comfortable win here regardless of any improvement the Sunwolves can show.
Bulls by 22.
Join The Roar for live scores from the match, starting from 4am AEDT.
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