The Castleford Tigers secured the League Leaders’ shield in the Super League on Thursday night but the race for the spots behind them in the play-offs continues to develop and will do so again on Friday when three more matches take place in the competition.
Leeds Rhinos head the chasing pack and they will look to fend off one of the sides charging home in the campaign in the form of St Helens which is the TV game on the day while Hull FC in third will take on Huddersfield Giants a week before the cup final. Their opponents at Wembley, Wigan Warriors, will host Salford in a huge game where the winners will close right up on fourth place with a win.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Leeds Rhinos vs St Helens
With Leeds sitting five points ahead of St Helens going into this match with five matches of the regular season remaining this is probably a bigger match for the visitors than it is for the hosts.
The Rhinos go into the contest off the back of a horrible loss at Wakefield last weekend and their inconsistency has been a mystery all season. St Helens were edged out by Hull FC last week after beating Castleford Tigers so their inconsistency is also there for all to see.
Saints have won four of their last five Super League matches though so they are beginning to find something resembling consistency and with Matty Smith back in place to lead them around the park I think they are value to see off a Leeds side who we never know what we are going to get from.
Hull FC vs Huddersfield Giants
All eyes will be on Hull FC to see how they approach this match given that the cup final is only eight days away. They will need to be on it to see off a decent Huddersfield side albeit one who probably are not playing for much other than pride.
Hull FC appear to have hit form at the right time unlike this time last season when they were beginning to fade. They won their Challenge Cup semi-final and have won their first two Super 8s matches and are one of the form teams in the league.
I expect the home side to win this match but this is about winning for them rather than pushing themselves to run up a huge score so I don’t trust them on a handicap but with the Giants’ motivation questionable this feels like a match best left alone.
Wigan Warriors vs Salford Red Devils
This might actually be the biggest match of the night. Salford Red Devils head into the night two points off fourth placed Wakefield Trinity while Wigan Warriors are only a point below Salford so whoever wins this will give themselves every chance of making the top four with four matches to play. The losers will remain up against it.
As with Hull FC we do have to wonder just how much focus Wigan have on the cup final. If they have too much then Salford can certainly be dangerous enough to win this even if their dip in form is now becoming a serious concern. I expect Wigan to win but the lingering distraction of the cup final puts me off taking a handicap so I’ll sit this one out too.
Tips
Back St Helens to beat Leeds Rhinos for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Titanbet
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
