After a pretty one sided showdown in the Super League on Thursday night we have two more matches in England’s elite division on Friday evening with the league leaders in action on what should be an entertaining night of action.
Warrington host their local rivals St Helens in front of the Sky cameras on Friday night and away from the screens Hull FC look to continue their good form against a struggling Huddersfield team. We’ll begin our preview with the TV game.
Warrington vs St Helens
Warrington go into this match on top of the pile and they could move four points clear with a win which would probably justify how dominant they have been this season. St Helens have been inconsistent and need a win here to keep up with the top sides so this is a bigger match than just a derby.
Warrington will go into battle here without their talisman as Chris Sandow is out injured. They do have Stefan Ratchford to come into the halves which is still a high level of player but it will be interesting to see how they go without the diminutive scrum-half. Gene Ormsby won’t be involved as he has gone on loan to Huddersfield.
St Helens have some real injury problems. Both wingers Adam Swift and Tommy Makinson are on the sidelines and now the centre Dominique Peyroux is out as well. Joe Greenwood is another one who is out injured so this is going to be a patched up Saints side for this one, as highlighted by the fact four youth team players are in the squad.
Warrington’s defeat to Hull on Easter Monday was very surprising but it remains their only defeat of the season. They’ve been to Catalans and Wigan and won and they saw off a rampant Widnes side at the time too so their form is in the book. St Helens have looked poor against Leeds, Wigan and Hull FC in recent times so I’ve got to be with Warrington here.
There is just enough mileage in the current price on Warrington -6 to justify a bet. I wouldn’t want to go too much more than that with Sandow missing but six points is a small enough figure for Warrington to cover.
Hull FC vs Huddersfield
One of the mysteries of the year has been what on earth has happened to Huddersfield? From being a few minutes away from the League Leaders Shield last season they are now languishing at the bottom of the table with one win from nine matches. If you said that was going to happen at the beginning of the campaign you’d have been ridiculed.
One thing which was predictable at the beginning of the season was that Hull FC were going to improve and that is exactly what they have done. They sit fifth going into this match and with a sizeable win could move up to third in the table.
All the talk has been about Frank Pritchard for Hull FC so far this season and that is fair enough but their much improved back line is really delivering the goods with Jamie Shaul looking like the wonderful talent he was when he burst onto the scene.
Injuries haven’t helped Huddersfield this season but they don’t have as many of them now as they did at the start of the campaign and they are still losing matches they should be winning with ease. Admittedly their last two defeats to Castleford and Salford were tight affairs but they are finding ways to lose and that isn’t good.
Hull FC look very powerful all over the pitch at the present time and I think they can convert that power into a pretty convincing win against a Huddersfield side who are lacking a bit of solidity especially in defence where they used to be so strong.
Tips
Back Warrington (-6) to beat St Helens for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bwin
Back them here:
WON – Back Hull FC (-6) to beat Huddersfield for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Skybet
Back them here:
