The latest round of action in the Super League concludes on Friday night with two more matches as we start to turn the attention towards Old Trafford. That probably won’t happen completely until the Challenge Cup concludes next month but sides with ambitions of getting to the big game can’t afford to be dropping points.
Three of the four teams on show on Friday night will have more than one eye on reaching Old Trafford while the other will be determined to show themselves in a good light so we’re in for a good night of rugby, all of which can be seen live on Sky.
The Format
There has been a change in the format of the season. The ‘loop matches’ and Magic Weekend have bitten the dust so teams will play 20 regular season matches ahead of the playoffs. Scrums are a thing of the past for the remainder of the season. They are being replaced with a tap restart to prevent the spread of the virus. The ‘six to go’ rule that is being used in NRL is also coming into the Super League with more eyes likely to be on the game with other sports yet to get back up and running. It has since been announced that the Super League table will be based on point percentage rather than total points.
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Warrington Wolves vs Catalans Dragons (18.00)
The first of the two matches looks like being an absolute cracker as a Warrington Wolves side determined to get their hands on the Super League trophy at long last host a Catalans Dragons outfit who are about as dangerous to the established potential winners of this league as there is.
This one should be extremely competitive and could easily be a dress rehearsal for the Grand Final. The fact it is the sole focus for the Catalans Dragons after their defeat in the Challenge Cup last weekend might well give them the advantage here. Warrington Wolves will be in fine fettle after keeping their Challenge Cup hopes alive but they are missing a couple of key players here in Stefan Ratchford and Tom Lineham and that could also be significant.
The Catalans Dragons are getting a 10 point start on the handicap here but that feels way too big to me. The days where the Dragons wilt on the road look to be behind them and they have so much danger going forward that you would expect them to trouble this solid Wire defence. I always think Warrington lack something to open up defences especially without Ratchford in their side so I’m not even ruling out a Dragons win here but I can’t ignore them with a 10 point start.
Wigan Warriors vs Wakefield Trinity (20.15)
The second match of the night sees Wigan Warriors continuing on their pathway to the play-offs when they go up against a Wakefield Trinity side who are just playing out time on a season which hasn’t really got going for them for various reasons.
One of the reasons why the Wakefield Trinity season hasn’t got going is because they have run into all sorts of Covid-19 issues to the point that earlier in the week their coach was talking about shutting down their training ground to get the problems addressed properly. Despite that and although he has only been able to name a 20-man squad, Chris Chesters probably has the strongest line up he’s had for a while here.
In saying that, Wigan are beginning to round into top form and although they have had their issues with Wakefield in the recent past, all this disruption can’t be good for Trinity. They haven’t been competitive very often recently and I can’t see them being here. I’m not often one for taking teams to cover big handicaps but if Wigan are serious here they should coast past their opponents here.
Tips
Back Catalans Dragons (+10) to beat Warrington Wolves for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
Back Wigan Warriors (-22) to beat Wakefield Trinity for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with 888sport
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