The Super League play-offs continue on Friday evening and after a shock to get them underway on Thursday night it will be interesting to see what happens when the Catalans Dragons take on the Leeds Rhinos at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
These two sides battle it out knowing that whoever wins the match will travel to take on the champions St Helens in a tasty semi-final next Friday so if one of these are going to make it to the Grand Final the road is a very tough one!
Where to watch
The match will be shown live on the Sky Sports Arena channel with the build up to the contest beginning at 7.30pm and the clash itself kicking off at 7.45pm.
Catalans Dragons
You would have to suggest that if the Catalans Dragons go on and win the title this season it will be controversial and they will be extremely fortunate. That is because they only played 13 matches whereas everyone else in the play-offs played at least 17 games. It isn’t necessarily their fault that they played so few games but I’m sure it will be brought up if as a fresher side than anyone else they rock up and roll off with the title.
That is perfectly possible too because when you look at their squad they match up to anyone left in the competition. It will be interesting to see whether freshness is to their advantage or whether it has created rust which gives them a disadvantage. They have only played one match in the last five weeks and they lost that having been in a strong position. There is no time for them to get up to speed here. They need to be at it right from the start here.
Leeds Rhinos
Having won the Challenge Cup earlier in the season we are entering territory in which the Leeds Rhinos should be comfortable performing in. They know exactly how to deal with these knockout matches and have recent experience of the intensity that is needed to come through them. That is probably the biggest advantage that a team could have but to be fair they still need to perform, something they’ve been hit and miss at since they won at Wembley.
One thing which isn’t going to help the Rhinos here is they will be without their head coach Richard Agar as he is having to self-isolate. They were in a bit of a mess until he steadied the ship so that is something to watch here. One thing we know about Leeds is they have a wealth of powerful attacking options, whether up the middle or in the back line, and a canny operator in the halves in Luke Gale too. That should have them competitive here.
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Team News
Catalans Dragons appear to be at full strength for this quarter final with Sam Tomkins, Israel Folau and James Maloney all named in what looks to be a very strong squad, on paper at least. Josh Drinkwater is also available.
Leeds Rhinos will be without a couple of key players in Adam Cuthbertson and the suspended Alex Mellor while Harry Newman also remains out through injury. Konrad Hurrell has been named in the squad though which will be big.
Betting
We should be in for an absolutely cracking contest here, one which pits two very evenly matched sides against each other. My gut feeling is that Catalans Dragons are just slightly better all around than the Leeds Rhinos and I’m prepared to back them even if there is a slight concern that such inactivity might go against them. They are full of international players so if they can’t be inspired by this occasion they never will be.
Catalans have a decent pack and they have a spine and a back line to really play off of that. If their kicking game can be on song it is hard to see Leeds coming through this. While there is a concern over some rust having formed within the Dragons ranks they have so many match winners in their setup I am hoping that will negate that somewhat. Bookmakers are struggling to split these two sides and I can see why but to me the Dragons are better of the two teams and I’m on them as a result.
Tips
WON – Back Catalans Dragons to beat Leeds Rhinos for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
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