The Wigan Warriors will find out who they will face in next week’s Grand Final on Friday when the defending champions St Helens take on the Catalans Dragons in the second Super League semi-final at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
Saints have been Grand Final contenders all season and now they are 80 minutes away from a clash with their arch rivals Wigan at the big dance. Catalans have been dubbed Grand Final contenders for a while but needed a switch to the format to make it into the postseason, something they’ve already taken advantage of.
Where to watch
The match will be shown in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and the Sky Sports Mix channels with the build up to the semi-final beginning at 7.30pm and the match itself starting at 7.45pm.
St Helens
It hasn’t been a season where St Helens have hit the heights of last term, although that was always going to be a tough ask to follow. It hasn’t been a bad campaign by any means but they would have been disappointed to bomb out of the Challenge Cup in the quarter final and will be out to make up for that here. Were Saints to go without at least competing in a final this season it would have to be called a poor year so there is a lot on the line for them.
When you look at the schedule you would say St Helens finished the season poorly given that they lost their last two matches but one of those they rested a lot of players and the other was a narrow loss to the Grand Finalists, Wigan Warriors. Saints have had three weeks to dwell on those losses so they will be keen to show everyone what they have got here. A Grand Final against Wigan is all the motivation they need to perform here.
Catalans Dragons
There was a lot of talk leading into the play-offs that the Catalans Dragons don’t belong in them as they didn’t play enough regular season matches but they showed last week when they beat the Leeds Rhinos that they don’t particularly care about that. There are here to win and you get the impression that they are going to lay down a serious challenge here. Whether they are good enough to win remains to be seen but they are certainly dangerous.
The Catalans started the win last week in fine form but they visibly wilted the longer the match went on and that is something they will need to avoid here because if they don’t play for the full 80 minutes they have got no chance. The other thing they need to do is keep their heads and cut out the penalties. St Helens are a decent enough side in their own right without the French side giving them free yardage through penalties or set restarts.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER FOR THE SUPER LEAGUE! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Team News
St Helens will have their talismanic forward Alex Walmsley back for this match which is likely to be significant. James Graham will be playing what could be the final match of his career here. It is certainly the last one at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
Catalans Dragons will be forced into a couple of changes after they lost Michael McIlorum and Joel Tomkins for the rest of the season due to suspensions imposed on them after the win last week. A couple of other former Wigan players in Tom Davies and Sam Tomkins will be looking to face their former club next week.
Betting
Semi-final football is usually tight, competitive and tense affairs but I’ve a feeling that this one won’t be that. Both these teams go into the match a little undercooked and that could lead to more points than we would normally get in a fixture of this magnitude. Catalans have only played twice in six weeks while St Helens haven’t played in three weeks so there could be a lot of heavy legs in the second half among the big units.
I often think Catalans matches are naturally higher scoring anyway, not least because they are such a good attacking team with a number of options to score, but also because they give away so many penalties that their defence comes under a lot of unnecessary pressure. The St Helens attack should be better with the go forward of Alex Walmsley while Catalans have plenty of try scoring options. I suspect the 38.5pt line is a shade on the low side here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 38.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
