The return of the Super League continues on Saturday with the first of a two-day weekend which gets underway with a double header of action, with both matches taking place in the bio secure bubble of Headingley.
The sport returned in the UK with a couple of matches last weekend, the second of which was an absolute cracker and hopefully we will be getting more action like that not just on Saturday but the weekend as a whole. Both the Saturday matches are live on Sky Sports.
Format and Rule Changes
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.
Castleford Tigers vs Catalans Dragons (16.15)
The opening match of the two on Saturday sees the Castleford Tigers playing their first match in five months when they take on a Catalans Dragons side who will be wishing that was the case with them after their poor performance against St Helens last weekend.
It should be said that Catalans were missing some key players last week but you only had to look at the demeanour of their coach Steve McNamara after that outing to see that he was far from impressed with what he saw from his side and in particular how they caved in. I would imagine the Tigers are licking their lips at the new rules because they are a high intensity side who love to play attacking rugby and if we took anything out of last week it is that the changes allow teams to do that.
I think it will be an advantage for Catalans to have played a match but whether that is enough to stay within eight I’m less sure. The issue I have with backing Castleford is whether they tire and that handicap fails late on. One thing I do expect to see are plenty of points. On a sweltering hot day the big men are going to tire in both sides and the nimble attacking players will make hay. The points line for this one is 46.5 which if we’re honest if Castleford are on it they might go close to covering themselves. Catalans will be eager to be better in attack this week so I’m expecting a high scoring match.
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Warrington Wolves vs Hull KR (18.30)
The second match of the two on Saturday sees the Warrington Wolves looking to join an ever increasing number of teams on eight points for the season when they go up against a Hull KR side who restart their campaign bottom of the table but safe in the knowledge that nobody is going down this season.
Warrington showed an inconsistent edge to their play prior to the restart so it will be interesting to see whether Steve Price has got his charges to find a consistent level of performance during the lockdown or whether it is going to continue to be guesswork as to what we will get from them. Hull KR have limitations, we saw that before lockdown, but it might be that their disadvantages are lessened by the prolonged gap so a start of 18pts feels a little big but in truth these are two sides who don’t do consistency and given that they are playing their first match in almost five months the best thing to do is watch and learn rather than guess for a bet.
Tips
WON – Back Castleford Tigers vs Catalans Dragons – Over 46.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
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