URC, Round three - teams and predictions
FRIDAY PREVIEW: History will be made on Friday as the Twickenham Stoop will become the first venue in England to host a United Rugby Championship match.
The Twickenham Stoop in London will serve as the 53rd ground to host a URC match when the Ospreys take on the Sharks on Friday.
In the other fixture on Friday, the Stormers start their four-week tour of the north against the Glasgow Warriors.
Having yet to record a victory after two defeats in the opening two matches against Munster and Leinster on tour, the Durban-based side will be desperate to finally get a W on the board at a neutral ground.
The Sharks are no strangers to the London venue as they faced the Crusaders there in Super Rugby in 2011, as well as the Harlequins in last year’s Champions Cup.
Sharks assistant coach Dave Williams admitted the London venue could be beneficial for the South Africans.
However, he has urged his team not to underestimate Ospreys, who broke a three-game losing run in the competition with their 34-31 victory over Zebre Parma in Swansea last weekend.
"I do think giving up the home advantage will be a big factor," Williams said, adding: "They [Ospreys] had a good home last weekend against Zebre and [Twickenham] is a bit of mutual venue.
"Some of the overseas support from West London and London could work in our favour.
"But we still facing a big team, who got loads of confidence from last week."
Despite the Sharks' record against the Welsh teams, having lost two of their last three matches against regions, the Durban team have targeted this encounter to overturn their four-week tour.
"As the coaching team, we spoke about the challenges of this tour, playing the champions [Munster] and champions-elect Leinster. In both matches we didn’t score for long periods, we just couldn’t convert at certain moments," Williams said.
“So this weekend [against Ospreys], we’ll continue with that belief and be more ruthless when we get those line breaks and continue to build pressure."
Aphiwe Dyantyi will get his first start for the Sharks, while Coenie Oosthuizen returns in the star-studded line-up.
“The Sharks are a different looking team to what they have been in recent seasons," Ospreys head coach Toby Booth said.
"They’re prepared to attack a lot more, from different areas of the pitch, whilst still bringing that physicality you expect from a South African side.
"They’ve had a tough start to their season, having to travel away to Munster and Leinster, but we’re under no illusions that they’ll be looking to bounce back in this one. We’re looking forward to what is set to be a big fixture in London.”
Complete Stormers team
The Stormers head to Scotland on an unbeaten run after recording wins over the Lions and Scarlets.
The Capetoanians have loads of confidence as they kick off their tour against Glasgow Warriors.
However, it's going to be a big challenge for the Cape side.
Glasgow have won all eight of their home matches against South African sides at Scotstoun Stadium in the URC.
The last time the two teams met, Stormers experienced their only defeat in five matches against Scottish opponents in Scotstoun in January.
"While we are happy to have 10 log points from these first two games, this will be an altogether different challenge in vastly contrasting conditions," said Stormers head coach John Dobson.
"We are playing on an artificial pitch against an impressive Glasgow side, so we will have to make the most of all the training time we have after the travel."
Glasgow Warriros head Coach Franco Smith and his coaching team made seven changes in total to the starting XV that took to the field in Galway last weekend, as they look to bounce back.
“We made too many unforced errors last weekend and allowed the win to get away from us – Connacht played well and deserved the victory, but we are keen to go out and make things right this weekend," Smith said.
“The Stormers are almost the complete team – they have reached the final in both of the URC seasons to date, they have some outstanding players in both the forwards and the backs, and they are exactly the type of challenge that we are excited about facing.
“We’re looking forward to being back at Scotstoun for our first Friday night match of the season – we’re proud to play at home, and we’re ready for the challenge in store."
See below for Friday's Round Three teams and predictions!
Ospreys v Sharks
(Twickenham Stoop, London – Kick-off: 19.35; 19.35 GMT; 21.35 SA Time)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Ospreys by five points.
Teams:
Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 Keiran Williams, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Toby Fricker, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris (c), 7 Harri Deaves, 6 James Ratti, 5 James Fender, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Ethan Lewis, 1 Garyn Phillip
Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Rhys Henry, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Lewis Jones, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Max Nagy, 23 Luke Scully
Sharks: 15 Aphele Fassi, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Francois Venter (captain), 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Phepsi Buthelezi, 6 James Venter, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Corne Rahl, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Dylan Richardson, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 George Cronje, 21 Zee Mkhabela, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Murray Koster
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Dewi Phillips (Wales) and Mark Butcher (Wales)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)
Glasgow Warriors v Stormers
(Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow – Kick-off: 19.35; 19.35 GMT; 21.35 SA time)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Stormers by three points.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Sione Tuipulotu, 12 Stafford McDowall (captain), 11 Kyle Rowe, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 George Horne, 8 Sione Vailanu, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 Angus Fraser, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Alex Samuel, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Duncan Weir
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ben Loader, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Evan Roos, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Ben-Jason Dixon, 3 Neethling Fouche (captain), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Gary Porter, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Clayton Blommetjies.
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: David Sutherland (Scotland) and Michael Todd (Scotland)
TMO: Colin Stanley (Ireland)
@rugby365com