Friday night sees The Challenge Cup Final 2024 taking place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Premiership outfit Gloucester face United Rugby Championship side, The Sharks.
Gloucester are two-time winners of this competition, last lifting the trophy back in 2015, although they have been far from their best this season, losing 13 of their 18 league fixtures.
The Sharks meanwhile have yet to taste success in any major competition in their history, but they are the number 1 seeds going into this final for a reason, with a number of their first-team squad featuring in South Africa’s Rugby World Cup success last year.
Sharks can make club history with first tournament success
Both Gloucester and the Sharks go into this final on the back of both indifferent form and underwhelming seasons and the two will be desperate to give their fans something to cheer about in North London.
The Cherry and Whites finished second from bottom in the Premiership this season – only finishing above a Newcastle Falcons side that lost all 18 of their league matches – but they do go into this final on the back of a comfortable 54-14 victory over the Falcons at their Kingsholm Stadium home.
The momentum of that victory however could still not be enough to ensure success on Friday night given that Sharks boss Neil Powell has rung the changes from their recent 36-14 defeat to Cardiff, with Springbok stars Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Eben Etzebeth and Makazole Mapimpi all returning to the starting XV.
The South African outfit may have lost each of their last two matches but their record against British and Irish sides this season has been impressive, winning five of their seven encounters in 2024, and a fully-fit and firing Sharks should prove too strong on the night.
Element of comfort around winning scoreline
The Sharks may be fourth from bottom in the United Rugby Championship and have won just four of their 17 league matches this season, but their recent form has seen drastic improvement over the latter stages of the campaign and they could be a promising option in the handicap market.
The South Africans have won six of their last nine matches in all competitions – including against two current top-eight sides in their division in Edinburgh (23-13 and 36-30) and Ulster (22-12) – while five of these victories have come via a winning margin of at least five points.
Gloucester have finished no less than six points behind their opponents in any of their last six defeats – famously losing 90-0 to Northampton Saints in their penultimate league match of the season earlier this month – and so if the Sharks can get in front, the likelihood is that they will stay there.
It should prove something of a launchpad for competition between the two hemispheres on the domestic front, with the Springboks side making the trip from Natal this week. The competition itself should be applauded, and has shades of Rugby League’s World Club Challenge with, more often than not, the NRL Grand Final Champions, heading north for pastures cold and new. Hopefully The Challenge Cup Final 2024 provides a blueprint for more of the same going forward.
The Challenge Cup Final 2024: Final Tips
The Sharks to win @ 1.52 with kwiff
The Sharks handicap (-2.5) @ 1.65 with kwiff
By Rob Eddy
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