The penultimate match of the Super League Magic Weekend sees the team beaten in the Grand Final last year in action as the Catalans Dragons take on the Warrington Wolves in what might be the feature match on the day.
This season has not gone to plan for the Wolves but they can inject some life into it if they can come out on top here. Catalans will have their eyes on another trip to Old Trafford and a win here takes them level with second placed Wigan which is a sizeable incentive.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Arena channel with the build-up to this one beginning at 3pm and the match itself kicking off at 3.15pm.
Catalans Dragons
The Catalans Dragons haven’t quite as solid or consistent as they were last season but they have still been good enough to be in third place and in a position to pounce on the top two over the remaining two months of the campaign in a bid to host a semi-final and boost their chances of making it back to Old Trafford. Injuries haven’t helped the Dragons this term and they are a real feature of their squad for this match.
They have a lot of injuries so the one thing they could have done without was the fallout from the win over St Helens last week which has left them with three players suspended so the Dragons squad will be tested to the full here. The positive though was that they did beat St Helens despite their injuries and that will give them a real confidence boost. They don’t tend to go as well on their travels though which will be another concern here.
Warrington Wolves
I think if you had asked any Warrington Wolves fan what their biggest nightmare season could look like they will have seen it played out in reality this term. The season offered some promise early on with a couple of wins, albeit with performances that weren’t the best, but those displays soon caught up with them and they have been terrible for way too long, not least last week when they allowed a 16 point lead to slip in a defeat to the Salford Red Devils.
The Wolves have won just one of their last seven matches and even that was in one of the worst standard Super League matches you’ll ever see against Hull FC. It is incredible after a period of one win in seven matches that Warrington are only four points off the top six and it could be that they end the day within two points of the play-off places should they win here. If they are going to win here they are going to need to put 80 minutes of full pressure in.
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Team News
Catalans Dragons will be without a host of star players with Arthur Mourgue, Mike McMeeken, Jordan Dezaria, Tom Davies and Julian Bousquet all injured and Micky McIlorum, Dylan Napa and Sam Kasiano are all suspended so that is a lot of power on the sidelines.
Warrington Wolves have a couple of key players back with Matty Ashton and George Williams returning to the squad. They will be without Mike Cooper, Kyle Amor and Joe Philbin due to injury however.
Betting
Clearly the injuries are going to have a big say in this match and you’ve got to think that the Warrington Wolves are better in terms of the lower number of players they have missing. While their injured trio are all fairly key they come in the pack where Warrington have other options whereas Catalans are missing almost their entire first choice front six which is really going to test their squad depth, particularly on an uncomfortable day in Newcastle.
That isn’t to say that Catalans have no chance in this match. Warrington have found plenty of ways to lose this season but they have a lot of big players in their squad and big players tend to have big egos who tend to want to show what they have got on the bigger stages and there aren’t any stages in the regular Super League season than this. This is probably the last chance Warrington have to keep their season competitive and whether they win or not that situation makes me think they can stay within 8.5pts of their rivals here.
Tips
Back Warrington Wolves (+8.5) to beat Catalans Dragons for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Betfair
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