United Rugby Championship outright predictions and best bets: Sharks have bite

Rugby union tips, best outright bets and analysis for the 2022-23 United Rugby Championship, which starts on Friday.

Where to watch

Benetton v Glasgow
Premier Sports 1, 5.30pm Thursday

Best bet

Sharks to win Grand Final
1pt each-way 10-1 bet365

United Rugby Championship preview

A year ago we were asking how competitive the new South African teams would be in a revamped tournament that had come to be dominated by the Irish provinces. An all-South African final, in which the Stormers defeated the Bulls 18-13, provided a fairly emphatic answer.

Leinster, four-time winners of the Pro14 before it metamorphosed into the United Rugby Championship, are odds-on favourites to take the crown again having been stunned by the Bulls in Dublin by one point in last season's semi-final.

Fellow Irish sides Munster and Ulster are also prominent in the Grand Final betting along with South Africa's Stormers, Sharks and Bulls, and all those five teams are available at prices from 8-1 to 12-1. But then it's 50-1 bar, highlighting once again the lack of depth to the tournament.

Glasgow, Connacht and Scarlets have all been champions in the last decade but in 12 years of playoff finals before last season's big change, 17 of the 24 final places were taken by Irish teams. Last season six of the eight quarter-final places went to Ireland and South Africa, and it was two apiece in the semis.

It's hard to see any of the teams outside the top six in the betting having a say in this season's title shake-up and it's even harder to see beyond Leinster making up for their semi-final exit this time.

Their defeat to the Bulls came two weeks after they went out of the European Champions Cup - for which they were also hot favourites - and they made the call to start the semi-final with Johnny Sexton on the bench.

Europe again clouds the picture this season as the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls will all be involved in the Champions Cup, although it remains to be seen if they will put as much into as the Irish provinces do.

Ulster could be contenders given that they beat Leinster home and away last season, but the Irish sides face a tougher battle for seeding in the knockout stage given they have to play each other twice in such a fiercely contested pool.

If another South African side are to go all the way, it could be worth siding with the star-studded Sharks, who went out in the quarter-finals last season, beaten by three points by finalists the Bulls.

The Durban outfit's Springbok ranks are bolstered by the signing of powerhouse lock Eben Etzebeth while Rohan Janse van Rensburg arrives from Sale to form an exciting midfield partnership with Lukhanyo Am.

Margins were tight in the equally competitive South African pool last season and the Sharks may have that extra bite to claim top seeding and have a good run in the playoffs.

Friday night's scheduled match between Cardiff and Munster has been moved to Saturday so the season kicks off in Italy, where Benetton are given a six-point handicap start against Glasgow.

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