We will find out who will face the Castleford Tigers in the Super League Grand Final on Friday night when the Leeds Rhinos take on Hull FC in the second semi-final. We saw the absolute very best of rugby league in the opening semi on Thursday and this game promises to be just as tight and just as exciting.
The Rhinos were much the better of the two sides in the regular season but as we saw on Thursday that counts for absolutely nothing when the season is on the line in a one-off knockout contest.
Leeds Rhinos
After a mixed start to the campaign the Leeds Rhinos came good and they will be looking to get back to Old Trafford which has become something of a second home for them down the years. Although they have seen a bigger turnover in personnel than we are accustomed to recently there is a lot of big game experience in this squad which could be significant.
They are generally good at Headingley too although some of their home advantage will be negated here by the renovation work taking place at the ground so they will need to find their own motivation if things begin to get tough. Often semi-finals are about holding your nerve and that is something Leeds are well rehearsed in.
Hull FC
The Black and Whites begin their quest for a second knockout trophy of the campaign here having already secured the Challenge Cup this season. On the way to that success they defeated by the Leeds Rhinos and the Castleford Tigers so they should be feeling positive about what is to come for them in the next period.
Hull FC have a very potent attack these days as we saw in their win over the Tigers last week and their defence can be mean too. They have not won at Headingley for 10 years however and despite their Challenge Cup success they still lack a little bit of experience particularly at this stage of the season.
Team News
Danny Maguire and Rob Burrow will be playing their final match at Headingley in a Rhinos shirt here so they will be looking to go out with a bang. Brett Ferres, Brad Singleton and Stevie Ward are all in the squad.
Steve Michaels misses out for Hull FC with Jordan Thompson coming in for him. Gareth Ellis will be playing his final match if Hull FC don’t win this game.
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Betting
I really can’t call this semi-final. I think it will be an absolute cracker and having had to wait 20 odd years for golden point extra time I wouldn’t be completely surprised if we see it in consecutive evenings.
There is one bet that I do like in this match though. That comes in the form of the points where I think a line of 39.5 is a touch on the low side here. These two sides have met four times this season and they have made up point totals of 76, 17, 67 and 64. That suggests to me that we could see plenty of points here even allowing for the fact it is a semi-final. I’m on the over here.
Tips
Back Over 39.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
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