Another round of Super League action kicks off with the usual Thursday night contest and this week we have a battle for the ages as the Leeds Rhinos take on St Helens at Headingley. This is a big game for both sides.
A win for Leeds will move them up to second ahead of the rest of the matches over the weekend while St Helens would move to within touching distance of fourth place if they can bag the victory so this is nicely set up.
Leeds Rhinos
A run of three wins on the trot in all competitions was ended last week when the Leeds Rhinos went down to the Super League leaders Castleford Tigers in a match which was full of passion for which the former champions have paid the price this week. In fairness Leeds were competitive at times but Cas are too good right now.
This will be a good marker for where the Rhinos are over the remainder of the campaign. A win here should allow them to relax and play their way into the play-offs in good form but a defeat will set up a nervy finish to the season where a spot in the semi-finals and beyond are anything but guaranteed.
St Helens
If the Saints are going to give themselves a chance of making it back to Old Trafford then they are going to have to find some consistency between now and the end of the season. They have a trend where they are good at home and poor on the road and it is the latter that needs to change if they are to kick on.
Scoring points on the road has been the problem for St Helens while conceding at the wrong time hasn’t helped. They do go into this match off the back of four wins in their last six with the two defeats coming to a rampant Huddersfield and Castleford which isn’t too bad. They will be looking to build on a good win over Salford last week.
Team News
Leeds will be without the suspended duo of Danny Maguire and Jamie Jones-Buchanan for this match while Rob Burrow and Brett Ferres have been ruled out for the medium term so Jordan Lilley will be one player brought in.
St Helens have a suspended player of their own in the form of Mark Percival. Ryan Morgan is the man expected to come in for him.
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Betting
This is a good way for the week to begin and we should get a great game of rugby. There is rarely much between these two sides as evidenced by the fact that St Helens won their first meeting 6-4.
If this match was last week I might well have taken Leeds Rhinos but the absence of Maguire and Burrow is far from ideal while JJB and Ferres could be big losses too. I think that gives St Helens the advantage in the key areas. They should have more pep in the forwards and they have a huge ascendancy in the halves which could be the determining factor.
Had the odds been a bit more level I might have left this match alone but the 6/4 on St Helens is just too big to ignore and even though they aren’t the best on the road that has to change soon. I’ll chance it that it turns here.
Tips
Back St Helens to beat Leeds Rhinos for a 4/10 stake at 2.50 with Bwin
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