The first spot at Old Trafford will be earned on Friday night when the opening Super League XXIX semi-final takes place at Craven Park as Hull KR go up against the Warrington Wolves for a place in the Grand Final.
Hull KR have been one of the best teams this season and were narrowly edged out of top spot so the pressure is on them a little to make sure they get to Old Trafford. Warrington made the Challenge Cup final this season and will want to be at the Grand Final too.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports+ channel with all the build-up to the semi-final beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the kick off at 8pm.
Hull KR
Although they couldn’t finish in top spot and secure the League Leaders’ Shield, Hull KR did at least hold onto second place in the table which means that they were able to have the luxury of last week off and guarantee that they hosted this semi-final. I’m not always sold on the former being as important as others believe it to be but there is no doubt that the latter is fairly significant, particularly when you consider that Hull KR have won 11 out of 13 in the Super League at Craven Park this term and one of the two they lost being in golden point extra time.
They won’t need reminding however that the other game they lost was to the Warrington Wolves right at the beginning of the campaign so if they needed an extra focus point for this match that might be it. The longer the season has gone on, the better Hull KR have got defensively and if they can remain tight for this match then we know they have all the attacking ability that is needed to get the job done on what is one of the biggest nights in the history of the club.
Warrington Wolves
Hull KR aren’t the only team involved in this match who have been one of the best teams of the season so far. Warrington Wolves were challenging for top spot themselves for a lot of it before just fading away a touch recently. They have been to the Challenge Cup final and were safely secured in third spot from a long way out. Importantly, they have already played a knockout match against St Helens last week and they were able to win a playoff game for the first time in six years so that will give them a lot of confidence to take into this one with them.
The really good thing from a Wolves perspective about that match last week, as well as the win, was the fact that things were going wrong in a big way midway through the second half of that game but rather than panic and run out of ideas they showed good poise and perseverance and played themselves back into the match and in the end showed they could hold their nerve in a tight situation. They are going to need to do a lot more of that in this match if they are going to embark on Old Trafford.
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Team News
Willie Peters has named Niall Evalds and Kelepi Tanginoa in his squad for this match which means they are close to full strength apart from missing Elliot Minchella who is continuing his suspension. Leo Tennison and Harvey Horne miss out.
Sam Burgess has the luxury of being able to name the same 21-man squad that went into battle against St Helens last week and it would be something of a surprise were he not to pick the same 17 too. Matty Ashton will make his 100th appearance for Warrington in this one.
Betting
This should be a cracking opening semi-final of the competition but one which I think will be relatively low scoring with tries hard to come by, particularly in the opening period before the game might open up the longer the match goes on and someone is behind and getting desperate. Both defences are decent enough and the three meetings between the two teams this term have yielded 42 points, 28 and 26 and given what is on the line here it would be daft to expect an avalanche of points in this one.
That makes me look towards my trusted friend of this time of the year which is for the penalty to be the opening play of the game. Bookmakers are getting wiser to this but they are still not fully dialled in as you can get 4/1 on Hull KR opening the scoring with a penalty and 5/1 Warrington to do it. If we have a cagey start we could easily get to a situation where just getting some points on the board is taken so if we level stakes the two we’re getting 6/4 on that likelihood at a minimum. The first play-off match last week saw the scoring open with a penalty and we didn’t really get a chance to see if the second one would have been because St Helens dropped the opening kick off. I think there is a good chance of a penalty opening the scoring here.
Tips
Back First Scoring Play (4-way) – Hull KR Any Other for a 1/10 stake at 5.00 with Bet365
Back First Scoring Play (4-way) – Warrington Wolves Any Other for a 1/10 stake at 6.00 with Bet365
