The penultimate round of Super League matches in the first stage of the season begins on Thursday evening with the race for top spot hotting up and the race for fourth place too. The action begins with one of the great fixtures as Warrington host St Helens in a potential cracker.
Warrington have struggled at times this season but they’ve now won their last three in all competitions and are building up a head of steam while Saints are just beginning to stutter with the chasing pack closing in. St Helens start out as 10/11 favourites with Betway.
Warrington were teetering on the edge of not making the top eight when the split happened until recently which was almost unheard of but such has been the tightness of the table all season that those wins have seen them close in on fourth place and a spot in the playoffs could be theirs if they maintain this form.
The Wolves have been unable to name a consistent side all season but they won’t mind making some changes here as they welcome Ashton Sims, Anthony England and Ben Currie back from suspension and they are all likely to start here which will be a boost.
St Helens flew out of the traps in excellent form this season but they have begun to stumble recently as injuries have begun to bite but they look like they have found a real talent in Adam Quinlan who scored a hat-trick in the win over Huddersfield last weekend and now he is in place if they can find a settled back line then their defence will improve as will their results.
The Saints will welcome their captain Jon Wilkin back into the fold after he missed the win over Huddersfield last week and that will be a boost for them. He will replace Mark Percival in the starting 13 as St Helens go in search of a hat-trick of wins over Warrington this season having won at Langtree Park and the Magic Weekend.
There was once a time where try as they might Warrington just couldn’t beat St Helens but having beaten them a couple of times last season those days aren’t as relevant now as they once were. A couple of years ago 10/11 on St Helens would have been buying money with their record in this fixture but I’m not so sure that’s the case now and I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Warrington turn them over here.
The best bet for me in this match comes in the form of the total points market where a line of 45.5pts looks a little low. St Helens’ defence has been very leaky in recent times. They’ve shipped 80pts in their last two matches so Warrington will fancy their chances of posting points here but St Helens remain one of the better attacking sides in the competition and if Wakefield can put up 20 on Warrington, St Helens certainly should be over to so I like over 44.5pts.
Another bet which catches my eye comes in the anytime tryscorer market. I’m not always a fan of this market but there is a price I like here which is in the form of Ben Currie. The Wolves second rower has gone over the try line 10 times in Super League this season and he bagged a couple against Leigh in the cup recently too so his form suggests the 9/4 he scores here is a little big. He should be nicely refreshed after an enforced break so I’ll have a small punt on that too.
Back Over 44.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
Back B.Currie Anytime tryscorer for a 2/10 stake at 3.25 with Ladbrokes
