All you need to know about Bulls, Lions URC fixtures against Edinburgh, Ospreys

The Bulls and the Lions kick off the 10th round of the United Rugby Championship on Friday night with matches that are crucial to both sides for various reasons.

The Bulls play Edinburgh in the Scottish capital at 9.45 pm, while the Lions are also in the United Kingdom, but down south in Wales, where they face the Ospreys.

The Bulls are 11th in the URC table, and the Scots are just a place above them in 10th. Both sides need to start climbing the ladder into the top-eight half of the 16-team competition, but for the Bulls, there is more to it — last week they battled to a tight win in Pau, which ended a seven-match losing streak, and they need to prove that they have finally turned the corner.

Importantly, the men from Pretoria need to settle on a game plan that better suits their strengths. Under new coach Johan Ackermann, they have been playing a much more expansive game, but while they have succeeded in scoring plenty of tries, they have been conceding more and thus losing. They are going to have to be much improved if they hope to beat an Edinburgh side that has not lost at the Hive Stadium this season.

The Lions showed grit last week in struggling to a 20-20 draw with Perpignan in the Challenge Cup. The two points they earned were not enough to advance in that competition, and now they can put all their eggs in the URC basket.

That means there can be no excuse for Ivan van Rooyen’s team not making the play-offs this year. They are currently handily placed in seventh, having won four and lost four of their URC games. The Lions would love to return home with league points as they enter a long stretch of matches at Ellis Park.

The Lions' forwards were excellent in the set pieces against the French side, yet the team could not get over the line. Against the Ospreys, the Lions need to add good game management and clinical finishing to their powerful forward play.

EDINBURGH vs BULLS (Friday, 9:45pm)

Edinburgh – 15 Harry Paterson, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Wes Goosen, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Magnus Bradbury (c), 7 Freddy Douglas, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Glen Young, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman.

Bench: 16 Harri Morris, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Ben Muncaster, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Piers O’Connor.

Bulls – 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Sebastian de Klerk, 12 David Kriel, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 Mpilo Gumede, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Bench: 16 Marco van Staden, 17 Alu Tshakweni, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Reinhardt Ludwig, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Harold Vorster, 23 Stravino Jacobs.

Referee: Gianluca Gnecci (Italy).

OSPREYS vs LIONS (Friday, 9:45pm)

Ospreys – 15 Iestyn Hopkins, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 James Ratti, 5 Ryan Smith, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Steffan Thomas.

Bench: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Cam Jones, 18 Kian Hire, 19 Lewis Jones, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Morgan Morse, 22 Reuben Morgan Williams, 23 Phil Cokanasiga.

Lions – 15 Quan Horn, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Richard Kriel, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Batho Hlekani, 6 Renzo du Plessis, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 SJ Kotze.

Bench: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 RF Schoeman, 18 Conrad van Vuuren, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Darrien Landsberg, 21 Jarod Cairns, 22 Hassiem Pead, 23 Erich Cronje.

Referee: Federico Roscini (Italy)