The road to Old Trafford begins on Friday night when the Super League XXIX playoffs get underway as the Salford Red Devils welcome the Leigh Leopards to the AJ Bell Stadium for a knockout clash which sees the winners travelling to Wigan Warriors next week.
Salford booked their spot in this quarter final with a week to spare whereas it wasn’t until last week before the Leigh Leopards guaranteed themselves a playoff spot. It will be interesting to see if that has any bearing on this match.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and the Sky Sports+ channels with the build-up beginning at 7.30pm and kick off coming at 8pm.
Salford Red Devils
The Salford Red Devils have been inside the top six for the majority of the season and as such they were able to secure their spot in it with a week to spare in the regular season. That allowed them to go on the road to Wigan last week and rest everyone that they will need here to ensure that they would be fresh for this encounter. That saw them risk their home advantage as if St Helens had beaten Leigh last week then Salford would have been on the road for this match. That all worked out well for them though and they get to host this match.
That will be of particular importance to them here because only Wigan Warriors have been to this ground and won this season. Salford are particularly good on their own patch and you would imagine they are well set up to go well in knockout rugby because the kicking game of Marc Sneyd both in open play and from point scoring situations is right there with anything in the sport. Salford haven’t been as explosive in attack this season but what they have lacked in that department they have made up for defensively, where at home on particular they have been much stronger. They are entitled to feel good about their chances here.
Leigh Leopards
In any competition that has a playoff system there is usually always a team who come from the clouds to snatch a spot in them, carry allsorts of momentum into them and then often go deep into them when they get there. That team in the Super League this season is the Leigh Leopards and they will be hoping that path applies to them here. They carry plenty of form into this match with them and also have the knowledge that they have won what was effective a season ending game last week.
Had Leigh lost to St Helens their season would have been over. They didn’t lose though and probably produced one of their best performances of the season to hold on and come away with the win. We saw last week one concern for them in this match and that is a possible lack of discipline costing them. There is a case to be made that the yellow card which threatened to change that game was harsh but nevertheless they can’t afford to lose their discipline in what has all the makings of being a tight game. The Leigh defence will need to stand up here but we saw last season when they lifted the Challenge Cup that they are more than equipped to win knockout games of footy. That will give them confidence here.
Team News
Salford Red Devils coach Paul Rowley rotated pretty much all of his side last week but he will bring all of the heavy hitters back for this match. If he is selected Brad Singleton will play a 300th career match.
Adrian Lam has named the same squad as the one he chose from for that win over St Helens last week after Ricky Leutele escaped a ban despite his trip to the sin bin last week. A number of Leopards players are leaving the club at the end of the season so this could be their last game for the club.
Betting
We should be in for a cracking opener to the Super League playoffs here as two fairly evenly matched teams go at it for a spot in the semi-final. Leigh Leopards bring all the form into the match with them but the Salford Red Devils have been impeccable at home this season and so something is going to have to give in this match. I think that something could well be the Leigh form. At odds against I think Salford have to be taken not just on their home form but also because they were able to rest everyone last week.
That might be the deciding factor in this match. The last couple of months have been pretty relentless with regards to the schedule so not having had to play last week has to be an advantage. Leigh weren’t just having to play last week but they had to play for the full 80 minutes and 10 of those were with 12 men. That advantage and the best kicker in the game to keep adding two points when within range along with the Salford home record makes me think that the value is very much on the home side in the playoff opener.
Tips
Back Salford Red Devils to beat Leigh Leopards for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Unibet
