URC Round Four - Teams and Predictions

FRIDAY PREVIEW: Former Springbok captain John Smit believes Edinburgh will be a “step too far” for the Lions in Round Four of the 2022/23 United Rugby Championship season.

The Lions have enjoyed a successful tour so far with a 28-27 win over Ospreys in Swansea before a 31-18 bonus-point win over Cardiff.

However, Edinburgh in Scotland will be a whole different challenge and Smit believes the visitors will not have enough firepower to make it three wins in a row.

“I think their [Lions] fortunes might run dry this weekend,” Smit told reporters during a URC round table this week.

“I think Edinburgh is going to have too much at home.

“I got a feeling it’s not going to be the same clean sweep for the South African sides. I think we are going to do well to get two [wins] out of the four matches.

“The Lions in fairness have surprised me so far, but I do think it is going to be a step too far this weekend in Edinburgh.”

Edinburgh suffered back-to-back defeats to the Bulls and Stormers during their tour in South Africa.

They managed to get two bonus points in their 31-33 defeat in Pretoria, but they left Cape Town empty-handed after a 18-34 defeat.

Former Scotland international John Barclay believes the familiar conditions and the artificial turf at Edinburgh Stadium will give the Scottish side the upper hand.

“I think Edinburgh have a really good record at the stadium,” said Barclay .

“It suits the way they are trying to play the game.

“They got off to a good start against the Dragons [in Round One] and they were good against the Bulls, but they didn’t win that, so they came home with just a couple of bonus points.

“Even though there is a long way to go in the season, they can’t lose three in a row and they can’t be losing games at home now.

“I think they will bounce back. I think they got a good team and the way they learn from each game seems to be pretty impressive, so I expect and hope for an Edinburgh win this weekend.”

The preview continues below… 

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Meanwhile, Argentine international Emiliano Boffelli returns to Edinburgh’s starting line-up for tomorrow’s match.

The Los Pumas star makes his first Edinburgh appearance of the 22/23 season – having enjoyed an impressive Rugby Championship campaign, notching up 20 points in August’s stunning win against the All Blacks, while playing a key role in Argentina’s July series victory against Scotland – and is selected on the wing as one of eight changes named by head coach Mike Blair.

Matt Currie (outside centre) makes his first start of the season in place of the injured Mark Bennett while Henry Pyrgos gets the nod at scrumhalf as Ben Vellacott misses out having picked up a knock in training.

A new front-row combination of Boan Venter (loosehead) and Luan de Bruin (tighthead) start as Glen Young (lock) comes into the second row.

Luke Crosbie (blindside flank) and Viliame Mata (No.8) are both fit again and return to the back row in place of injured duo Jamie Ritchie and Nick Haining.

The Lions made two changes to their start team with Ruan Venter and Stean Venter coming in for Emmanuel Tshituka and Edwill van der Merwe respectively.

Irish Derby

Meanwhile, Friday’s other match is Galway with Connacht hosting Irish rivals Munster.

Connacht have zero points from their three games and they are right at the bottom of the standings, while Munster are in 11th place with six points from their games.

“We won’t hide from the fact our performances and results haven’t been good enough,” said Connacht Director of Rugby Andy Friend.

“We’ve been guilty of too many unforced errors, and at this level, you’re going to be punished. As is always the case against Munster, the team who brings the greater level of physicality, linked with superior discipline and minimal error count is the team that usually comes out on top, so those three things are a key focus for us this week.

“With the new pitch and our friends, family and supporters behind us, we’ll be doing everything in our power to get that first win of the season.”

*All of Friday’s teams and predictions follow below …

Connacht v Munster
(The Sportsground, Galway – Kick-off: 19.35; 18.35 GMT)

Prediction

@rugby365com: Munster by eight points.

Teams:

Connacht: 15 Conor Fitzgerald, 14 John Porch, 13 Byron Ralston, 12 David Hawkshaw, 11 Mack Hansen, 10 Jack Carty (captain), 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Jarrad Butler, 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 5 Oisín Dowling, 4 Gavin Thornbury, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley.
Replacement: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Niall Murray, 20 Josh Murphy, 21 Colm Reilly, 22 Tom Daly, 23 Paul Boyle.

Munster: 15 Joey Carbery, 14 Conor Phillips, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Dan Goggin, 11 Patrick Campbell, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 Peter O’Mahony (captain), 6 Jack O’Donoghue, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Keynan Knox, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dave Kilcoyne.
Replacements: 16 Scott Buckley, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Edwin Edogbo, 20 Jack O’Sullivan, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Rory Scannell, 23 Fionn Gibbons.

Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland) & Dan Carson (Ireland)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

Edinburgh v Lions
(Edinburgh Rugby Stadium, Edinburgh – Kick-off 19.35; 20.35 SA time; 18.35 GMT)

Prediction

@rugby365com: Edinburgh by 10 points.

Teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Luke Crosbie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Glen Young, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 WP Nel, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Ben Muncaster, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Charlie Savala, 23 Chris Dean.

Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Quan Horn, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Sibusiso Sangweni, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (captain), 4 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Sithembiso Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Jean-Pierre Smith, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Emmanuel Tshituka, 20 Ruhan Straeuli, 21 Morné van den Berg, 22 Jordan Hendrikse, 23 Zander du Plessis.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Ru Campbell (Scotland); Jonny Perriam (Scotland)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)