There is one match left in ‘Rivals Round’ of the Super League season and it comes along on Sunday afternoon at the Leigh Sports Village where the Leigh Centurions play host to their local rivals Salford Red Devils.
We’ve had all the TV coverage we are getting from this round of matches so if you want to follow this match and are not at the game then it is the social media feeds or the radio commentaries you need to be glued on.
Leigh Centurions
This has been a wretched campaign for the Leigh Centurions, so much so that they are still looking for their first win of the season. There was a lot of conjecture about them getting the final licence to play in the Super League in the first place and were they to bite the dust from the competition without having registered a single win then those who disagreed with the decision would have been completely justified, not that they aren’t already in truth.
Just six matches remain including this one for the Centurions to get a chalk on the board and avoid the ignominy of delivering a winless season. Unfortunately for them they haven’t been helped with injuries at the minute and are missing some key players for this fixture too. The worrying thing for Leigh fans is that in truth apart from a spirited effort against Hull KR a couple of weeks ago, they haven’t looked like winning a match in recent times.
Salford Red Devils
The Salford Red Devils certainly haven’t had their best season ever this term but there have been one or two signs of life from them in recent times. Whether that is them finally getting to grips with the coaching change at the beginning of the season and finding their feet and settling down or just a kind fixture list that they have taken advantage of remains to be seen but either way they have found a little bit of form to take into this match with them.
Salford have actually won four of their last seven matches, although two of those were against the Huddersfield Giants and another was against a Castleford Tigers side who rested everyone as it was the week before the Challenge Cup final. They did beat Wakefield too and have run Wigan close recently so their form is beginning to contain some consistency. The other thing which will give them confidence here is the fact they eased past Leigh earlier in the season.
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Team News
Leigh Centurions could give a debut to new signing Sam Stone but they remain without a host of players with Ryan Brierley, Junior Sa’u, Lewis Tierney, Blake Wallace, Nathan Mason and Tyrone McCarthy among those not in the squad here.
Salford Red Devils aren’t completely at full strength but a number of their big players such as Kevin Brown, Krisnan Inu, Tui Lolohea, Dan Sarginson and Andy Ackers are all in the squad so they have a decent spine in place.
Betting
It is hard to like the Leigh Centurions here. They are getting worse not better and unless the rivalry nature of this fixture inspires them to muscle up and find some defensive plays because that is what is letting them down and if they don’t defend well the Salford Red Devils will punish them with the creativity they have in the halves and the finishing ability they have in the rest of the back line and in a couple of the forwards.
Whether you think the Salford form is just a nice schedule or something else, they get to go up against a side who are in no form whatsoever and they are only being asked to give up a 12 point handicap. When these two met in Salford earlier in the campaign the Red Devils ran out winners 34-8 and if the Salford defence can stay strong like they have in those wins recently then I expect a score which is fairly similar. I’ll take Salford to cover a dozen here.
Tips
Back Salford Red Devils (-12) to beat Leigh Centurions for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfred
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