The second and final day of the Magic Weekend gets underway with a clash between Catalans Dragons and Huddersfield Giants at St James’ Park and this is a really big match for both sides.
The Dragons dropped into the bottom four after Saturday’s matches and need to avoid defeat here to climb back out while Huddersfield are now four points adrift of eighth place and will be eager to cut that game as soon as possible.
Catalans Dragons
The Catalans head into this match in the middle of a nasty run which has seen them lose their last four matches if you include the humbling they took at Hull in the cup last week. Some of that form has been distorted by a huge injury list but even so you do wonder how their confidence will be going into this one.
We know with the kicking game that the Catalans have that when they are on it they can put up points by the number against anyone they face but the problem they have had for a while is keeping the door shut at the other end. If they can find a run of strong defensive performances they can still ensure a top eight spot.
Huddersfield Giants
Although they are in the middle of something of a transitional phase Huddersfield Giants go into this match off the back of just one win in their last 11 matches and that was something of a surprise victory at Leeds a few weeks ago. They suffered a real low blow when they were beaten by Swinton in the cup recently too.
Scoring points has been a real concern for the Giants throughout this season so far and it doesn’t seem to matter which combination they use they can’t seem to find what they need. Only Widnes and Leigh have scored fewer than them this season and only Widnes and Catalans have shipped more points.
Team News
Catalans have some big players back for this match with Krisnan Inu probably the pick of them. Paul Aiton and Greg Bird are big players who are back too so this is the strongest Catalans will have been for a while.
Huddersfield Giants will be without Danny Brough who has picked up a suspension for an incident in the defeat to the Castleford Tigers. Martyn Ridyard has joined on loan from Leigh and will deputise. Jermaine McGillvary and Leroy Cudjoe return.
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Betting
We have two out of form sides doing battle to open up the second day but I think I favour the Catalans Dragons in this one. We saw on Saturday how important a kicking game is on this big pitch and Huddersfield Giants have lost a lot in that area with Brough’s suspension and that gives the Dragons more than an edge.
They are among the leading sides for kicks in general play this season so they rely a lot on a kicking game and have a number of options and in a match where neither defence is going to take much breaking down the sheer number of attacking weapons the Dragons possess can see them to a much needed victory.
Tips
Back Catalans Dragons (-2) to beat Huddersfield Giants for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Titanbet
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