URC, Round 17 - Saturday's Teams and Predictions

PREVIEW: The Bulls and Lions have their play-off destiny in their own hands as we head into the penultimate round of the United Rugby Championship 2025/26 season.

Saturday’s action kicks off at Loftus Versfeld, where the Bulls will be gunning for the full house of points against Zebre in an aim to secure a top-four finish.

Bulls head coach Johan Ackermann made several changes to the team, most notably at flyhalf, where veteran Willie le Roux steps in place of Handré Pollard, who will make an impact off the bench.

Ackermann emphasised that the changes made to the team isn’t a sign of disrespect to Zebre, but more to give players who did duty off the bench in recent weeks a starting opportunity with the play-offs in mind.

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“I must make it clear that we are not underestimating Zebre,” Ackermann said.

“The selection comes down to all the guys that played off the bench in recent weeks getting a start and building some minutes.

“Somewhere along the line, you need to get them to play for longer periods if you need them going forward.

“We have a lot of respect for Zebre and what they can bring.

“If you analyse them, you’ll see that they’re just unlucky sometimes to lose by small margins.”

The Sharks will play for pride when they face another team out of play-off contention in the form of Benetton at Kings Park.

It’s been a frustrating season for the Sharks, who underwent midseason coaching changes and a mountain of injuries to first-choice players.

Head coach JP Pietersen touched on what Benetton will bring and explained his selection choices.

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“Benetton is a strong side with a good set-piece and boasts several Italian internationals,” Pietersen said.

“Regarding our selection, it’s just a rotation of players – Hanru [Jacobs] and Phatu [Ganyane] are out [injured] and couldn’t train last week.

“So Ox [Nche] and Vinnie [Vincent Koch] are good to go and deserve a start. They’ve been looking good lately.

“It’s the same for what Phatu, Fez [Mbatha] and Manu [Tshituka] did for us against Edinburgh.

“They had a good run when they were on the pitch. It helps to build depth and competitiveness in the squad.

“You need to build those elements into a squad, and Ox and Vinnie have a reputation that speaks for itself.”

The Lions, who are currently on a six-game winning streak, are in Dublin for ‘mission impossible’ against Leinster, who are hitting their straps at the business end of the season.

Lions defence coach Jacque Fourie made no secret of their intent against the Irish giants and highlighted that their destiny is in their own hands.

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“We all know it’s tough touring to Ireland and playing against one of the oldest clubs in the world in Leinster.

“But we came here [to Dublin] with momentum, and whereas usually, at this stage of the season, it was a make-or-break situation for us.

“We came here to win. We are not here to just compete; we want the victory on Saturday, and then we’ll take it from there.

“Our season approach has been game by game. It is all in our own hands. Whatever happens on Saturday is not in someone else’s hands.

“We can’t expect other teams to do us favours, at the end of the day, it will come down to what we’re going to do.”

Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg echoed Fourie’s comments and explained how they will approach this match.

He also said that recording a win in Dublin will be “massive” for the Lions’ growth and in terms of their season.

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“It [a win] will be massive. We’re at a place where we are really backing our game,” the Springbok scrumhalf said.

“We want to prove to ourselves that our game is good enough to beat Leinster at home, and then we can really back ourselves in the play-offs.

“We’ll take it moment for moment and not get ahead of ourselves this weekend and just go all out for it.”

In the other matches, the Ospreys take on Scarlets, Dragons face Edinburgh, and Connacht tackle Munster, with the latter game being the only one which can still have an outcome on the play-off picture come the end of the regular season next week.

*See all Saturday’s teams and predictions below!

SATURDAY, MAY 9

Bulls v Zebre Parma
(Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria – Kick-off: 13.45 SAST; 11.35 GMT)

Prediction

Rugby365: Bulls by 25 points

Teams

Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Sergeal Petersen, 10 Willie le Roux, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Jeandre Rudolph, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Marco van Staden, 1 Jan Hendrik Wessels
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Mpilo Gumede, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Handre Pollard, 23 Stedman Gans

Zebre: 15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Marco Zanon, 12 Enrico Lucchin, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Martin Roger Farias, 9 Thomas Dominguez, 8 Giovanni Licata (captain), 7 Davide Odiase, 6 Alessandro Ortombina, 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 Franco Carrera, 3 Matteo Nocera, 2 Giampietro Ribaldi, 1 Paolo Buonfiglio
Replacements: 16 Giovanni Quattrini, 17 Luca Franceschetto, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Bautista Stavile, 21 Samuele Locatelli, 22 Alessandro Fusco, 23 Migael Prinsloo

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa) and Dylen November (South Africa)
TMO: Adam Jones (Wales)

Sharks v Benetton
(Kings Park, Durban – Kick-off: 16.00 SAST; 14.00 GMT)

Prediction

Rugby365: Sharks by 10 points

Teams

Sharks: 15 Jaco Williams, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Andre Esterhuizen (captain), 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Zekhethelo Siyaya, 9 Bradley Davids, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Eduan Swart, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Phatu Ganyane, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Corne Rahl, 20 Nicholas Hatton, 21 Ross Braude, 22 Jean Smith, 23 Litelihle Bester.

Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Ignacio Mendy, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Alessandro Izekor, 6 Riccardo Favretto, 5 Giulio Marini, 4 Niccolò Cannone (captain), 3 Marcos Gallorini, 2 Bautista Bernasconi, 1 Destiny Aminu
Replacements: 16 Nicholas Gasperini, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Mattia Midena, 20 So’otala Fa’aso’o, 21 Federico Ruzza, 22 Andy Uren, 23 Federico Zanandrea

Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales)
Assistant referees: Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa) and Stephan Geldenhuys (South Africa)
TMO: Craig Evans (Wales)

Ospreys v Scarlets
(Electric Brewery Field, Bridgend – Kick-off: 17.30; 16.30 GMT)

Prediction

Rugby365: Ospreys by five points

Teams

Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Iestyn Hopkins, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Luke Morgan, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Jac Morgan (captain), 6 James Ratti, 5 Ryan Smith, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Steffan Thomas
Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Huw Sutton, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Keelan Giles, 23 Evardi Boshoff

Scarlets: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Eddie James, 11 Macs Page, 10 Joe Hawkins, 9 Dane Blacker, 8 Fletcher Anderson, 7 Josh Macleod (captain), 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Max Douglas, 4 Jac Price, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias
Replacements: 16 Harry Thomas, 17 Josh Morse, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Dan Davis, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, 23 Ioan Jones

Referee: Ben Connor (Wales)
Assistant referees: Carwyn Sion (Wales) and Gareth Newman (Wales)
TMO: Keith David (Wales)

Leinster v Lions
(Aviva Stadium, Dublin – Kick-off: 17.30 IST; 18.30 SAST; 16.30 GMT)

Prediction

Rugby365: Leinster by 12 points

Teams

Leinster: 15 Ciarán Frawley, 14 Joshua Kenny, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jamie Osborne, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 James Culhane, 7 Will Connors, 6 Max Deegan, 5 James Ryan (captain), 4 Brian Deeny, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 John McKee,1 Ed Byrne
Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Diarmuid Mangan, 20 Scott Penny, 2 Fintan Gunne, 22 Hugh Cooney, 23 Hugo Keenan

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Erich Cronje, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horne, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Siba Mahashe, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 SJ Kotze.
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Sebastian Lombard, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Batho Hlekani, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Nico Steyn, 23 Kelly Mpeku.

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Keane Davison (Ireland) and Stuart Gaffikin (Ireland)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)

Dragons v Edinburgh
(Rodney Parade, Newport – Kick-off: 19.45 BST; 18.45 GMT)

Prediction

Rugby365: Edinburgh by eight points

Teams

Dragons RFC: 15 Angus O’Brien (co-captain), 14 Jared Rosser, 13 Fine Inisi, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Rhodri Williams,8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Harrison Keddie, 5 Ben Carter (co-captain), 4 Seb Davies, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 1 Rodrigo Martinez
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Chris Coleman, 19 Matthew Screech, 20 Ryan Woodman, 21 Niall Armstrong, 22 Harri Ackerman, 23 Huw Anderson

Edinburgh: 15 Harry Paterson, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mosese Tuipulotu, 12 Findlay Thomson, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Hector Patterson, 8 Tom Currie, 7 Freddy Douglas, 6 Glen Young, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 3 Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Liam McConnell, 21 Magnus Bradbury, 22 Charlie Shiel, 23 Piers O’Conor

Referee: Filippo Russo (Italy)
Assistant referees: Lucas Yendle (Wales) and Marcus Caudle (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)

Connacht v Munster
(Dexcom Stadium, Galway – Kick-off: 19.45; 18.45 GMT)

Prediction

Rugby365: Munster by seven points

Teams

Connacht: 15 Sam Gilbert, 14 Shane Jennings, 13 Harry West, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Shayne Bolton, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Ben Murphy,8 Sean Jansen, 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Cian Prendergast (captain), 5 Josh Murphy, 4 Darragh Murray, 3 Sam Illo, 2 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 1 Billy Bohan
Replacements: 16 Eoin de Buitléar, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Joe Joyce, 20 Paul Boyle, 21 Matthew Devine, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Seán Naughton

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Shane Daly, 13 Alex Nankivell, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Andrew Smith, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Craig Casey (captain), 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Tom Ahern, 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Edwin Edogbo, 3 Michael Ala’alatoa, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 1 Jeremy Loughman
Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Conor Bartley, 19 Jack O’Donoghue, 20 Brian Gleeson, 21 Ben O’Donovan, 22 Seán O’Brien, 23 Alex Kendellen

Referee: Peter Martin (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland) and Sam Holt (Ireland)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)