The Super League week continues on Thursday evening when one of the marquee matches of the season takes place at the Totally Wicked Stadium where the champions St Helens meet a Warrington Wolves side who continually flatter to deceive.
Make no mistake about it though, Warrington have the personnel to be serious challengers to St Helens here so we should be in for a cracking contest as both teams go in search of what would be a significant win.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Action channel with the build-up to the contest beginning at 7.30pm and the match itself kicking off 15 minutes later.
St Helens
St Helens will kick off in this match knowing that with Catalans Dragons’ match with the Leeds Rhinos already postponed this week, they have the chance of moving back to the top of the table and that should act as a decent incentive, should they have needed one of those in a high intensity match like this anyway. They had last week off which might not have been a bad thing because the Challenge Cup semi-final they were involved in prior to that was pretty fierce and competitive.
Saints have been brilliant this season with their only defeat coming down in France to the Catalans Dragons. They lost that match 20-16 and in the other seven matches they have played in the Super League they have conceded just 50 points in total so there is no searching too hard for their strength. That doesn’t mean that they can’t put points on the board though and they have a couple of wingers who are as potent as there is, while up the middle they can mix it with anyone.
Warrington Wolves
For too long now the Warrington Wolves have been either brilliant or terrible with very little in between and nobody truly knows which one you are going to get until the match starts. There is a sense that in the really big matches they often come up short. That is a tag they have been looking to shed for a while but they haven’t fully been able to do it, and defeat in the Challenge Cup semi-final earlier in the month does nothing to quieten the doubters they have.
What they do have is a very talented squad, which is why so many get frustrated with their lack of success over recent times. A couple of Challenge Cups really feels like too little for the players they have had at their disposal. They bounced back from that semi-final loss in fine style last week and now they get the chance to show that they can be involved in these big matches and that their best form can come out. They might need it to here.
Special Offer
Open up a BetVictor account and bet £5 to get £30 in bonuses! Click the image below for this standout new account offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Responsibly
18+ New Customers only. Deposit, opt in and place a £5 qualifying bet at odds of 2.00 or greater within 7 days of opening a new account; excludes cashed out bets. Receive 2x £10 Free Sports Bets, valid on set events only at odds 2.00 or greater, expires in 7 days. Plus a £10 Game Show Bonus, selected games, wager 40x to withdraw a max of £250. T&Cs Apply. Please Gamble Responsibly.
Team News
St Helens will be able to welcome Agnatius Paasi back for this match after he used the week to recover from a hamstring problem which kept him out of the semi-final win. Mark Percival will be missing this match though.
Warrington Wolves boss Steve Price has named an unchanged squad from the one which saw off Wakefield Trinity last week but neutrals will be disappointed to know that there is no Greg Inglis due to his injury.
Betting
I hate betting on Warrington Wolves matches because there is just no consistency to them at the minute but one thing I am expecting here is a very tight match with not much given on either side. St Helens just don’t concede points and while Warrington put the minnows in this competition to the sword it is a different case entirely when they come up against the class acts. They only scored 40 in the two matches against Catalans this term and just 14 against Hull FC.
To be fair to them though, in those three matches they only gave up 28 points in total so when they need to muscle up and defend they do have it in them to do it so I’m not sure we’re going to get a high scoring classic here. The best matches between the best teams are the ones which are low scoring and where every point has to be earned and won rather than gifted. I sense we’ll get that sort of a game here so the 44.5 point line looks a touch on the high side.
Tips
Back Under 44.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
