The latest Super League XXIX weekend concludes in the capital on Sunday when the former champions St Helens look to move back to the top of the table when they go up against rock bottom London Broncos.
It is fair to say that these two sides have had different campaigns so far and St Helens will be hoping that the form continues here while London will be out to pick up the biggest upset Super League will have seen in some time.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Action channel with the brief build-up beginning at 2.55pm ahead of the 3pm kick off at The Stoop.
London Broncos
This is turning into a bit of a nightmare first season back in Super League for the London Broncos, although I guess it was always going to be that way because there just isn’t any incentive in them spending money to look to survive in the competition only to find out that they don’t have a licence for future campaigns and being back to square one but without the funds to keep them going. It is probably the right approach but their ability to be competitive has been hindered as a result.
The numbers tell their own story for the Broncos. They are the lowest scorers in the competition by some 46 points and they have conceded 60 points more than any other team and have just the one win to show for their efforts over the course of 13 matches. If we are being honest they have only looked like winning one of the 12 games that they have lost too so the size of the task is pretty big for the home side here.
St Helens
St Helens probably didn’t hit the heights we would have expected of them in the regular season last term but they still nearly pinched the leaders’ shield at the death despite the exertions of going to Australia for the World Club Challenge at the beginning of the campaign. Since then, they have watched their rivals Wigan Warriors pick up every piece of silverware in the game and I am sure that will fuel them to push on and make sure they are the ones topping the table at the end of the regular season.
They are well on track for that too. They went into this round of matches with only the Warriors having scored more points than them this term while nobody has conceded fewer points than them so that tells us that Saints are on the right track. They have had the week off while they weren’t at the Challenge Cup final so they will probably be itching to get out onto the pitch for this hit out and look to lay a bit of a marker down.
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Team News
The London Broncos have Emmanuel Waine back for the first time since the opening game of the season while Ethan Natoli is back in the squad as well but Jack Campagnolo and Dean Parata are still out with injury.
St Helens have made just the one change to the squad which took care of the Catalans Dragons last time out. That sees Harry Robertson coming in for Leon Cowen. Alex Walmsley remains out while Tommy Makinson plays for the first time since announcing he’ll be joining Catalans next term.
Betting
St Helens are being asked to cover a 32 point handicap in this match and there isn’t a huge amount of evidence that they will have any problem doing it. They covered it in a 40-4 win in the opening round of the season and have gone from strength to strength since then, whereas the London Broncos haven’t really been able to find anything in terms of a competitive approach. The only thing London kind of have going for them here is that they are fresh after a week off.
The problem with that is so are St Helens and you suspect when they get into a groove in this match they will run up the score quickly. It doesn’t even look like the weather is going to help London because it is set to be dry which will allow Saints to pass the ball around and tire this Broncos defence out. In their last four defeats London have conceded 40, 46, 64 and 34 and with St Helens likely to be in the range of the first three they should comfortably cover this line.
Tips
Back St Helens (-32) to beat London Broncos for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Sky Bet
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