A busy bank holiday weekend in the Super League gets underway on Thursday night with the second derby of the season between St Helens and Wigan. This match rarely needs any spicing up but it probably had it in the reverse meeting when Saints had to do battle with 12 men for most of the match, eventually going down narrowly.
The two sides head into the battle at the Totally Wicked Stadium looking for two valuable points as well as local bragging rights and it goes without saying that this one will be fiercely competitive.
St Helens
If the Saints needed a boost heading into the derby they certainly got it at the Magic Weekend when they absolutely demolished Hull FC. Given the form of St Helens heading into Newcastle it might have been that Hull were caught cold by Saints’ performance but that was the St Helens we know and admire.
The key for them now is to find that performance level on a regular basis. A new coach being in place will assist that for sure but the players on the field need to ensure they maintain the aggressive intent that they displayed at the Magic Weekend. They shouldn’t need any extra motivation to be aggressive here.
Wigan Warriors
For much of the season Wigan Warriors were churning out results even with all their well-documented injuries but just recently things have been getting on top of them and they head into this match off the back of just one win in their last four Super League matches. They will be out to put that right here.
Players are slowly starting to come back for Wigan which will be important because they made a lot of uncharacteristic errors in their draw with Warrington at the Magic Weekend. That might have been a result of jaded minds in young players so the quicker their established players return the better it will be.
Team News
St Helens have named an unchanged squad for this match which means that Tommy Makinson will remain at full-back with Jonny Lomax not quite fit to return for this one. Ben Barba isn’t eligible.
Wigan will be boosted by having two important players back for them. Scrum-half Thomas Leuluai and hooker Sam Powell both return with Josh Woods sitting this match out.
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Betting
This is a great way to kick off the Bank Holiday Weekend. St Helens, boosted by their win last week, take on Wigan Warriors in arguably the biggest rivalry in the game and I’m sure it won’t disappoint.
The question we have to ask ourselves is whether St Helens’ win and performance last week was a one off or what we can expect from them from now on and I guess we will only really know once this match is done.
The one thing we do know is that Wigan pride themselves on their performance in the big matches and with Leuluai back to direct traffic and Powell there to relieve McIlorum and keep their spine fresh I fancy the visitors might just have too much for a St Helens side for whom this match might just be a week or two too soon for.
Tips
Back Wigan Warriors to beat St Helens for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Skybet
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