Stormers slight favourites, Sharks underdogs in Champions Cup knockouts

The Stormers will start as slight favourites, while the Sharks will be underdogs when the two sides take on Exeter Chiefs and Stade Toulousain in their Champions Cup quarterfinals in England and France on Saturday.

The Stormers are in action against Exeter at Sandy Park (kick-off 6:30pm), and although they are playing away, the defending United Rugby Championship (URC) champs will be favoured to come away with a win and progress to the semifinals.

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It has been another strong season from the Stormers so far, with them second on the URC log and having reached the Champions Cup quarters with just one loss in the pool stages.

They have also played in England already, where they beat London Irish during the pool phase, and they will now have to do it again if they want to reach the last four of the competition.

With their Springbok stars in good form and being unbeaten in their last five games, the Stormers will be looking to take that momentum into the Exeter match.

The hosts themselves have only lost once in the Champions Cup this season, in the pool stage, but they had to dig deep to edge Montpellier in their last 16 game over the past weekend, with them drawing the scores level at 33-all late in extra time and progressing on tries scored.

Underdogs

For the Sharks they will be underdogs in their clash against French Top 14 leaders Toulouse at the Stade Ernest Wallon (kick-off 4pm).

Toulouse have been in immense form in the Top 14 this season and are comfortably top of the log, while they have won every match in the Champions Cup so far, including a 33-9 win over the Bulls in the last 16 despite not being at their best, and they will be confident against the Sharks.

The visitors will however be going all out to cause an upset and if their Springbok stars fire they could well be in with a chance.

A high scoring 50-35 win over Munster in the last 16 will have given them plenty of confidence and the Sharks will look to take that into the Toulouse match.

But they were dealt a blow with Springboks Eben Etzebeth and Jaden Hendrikse ruled out of the game through injuries picked up last weekend.