We are deep into the second half of the regular season in the Super League and that continues on Thursday evening when the Leeds Rhinos play host to the Wigan Warriors in what could be a key fixture with regards the campaign as a whole.
Leeds are looking up at the top six heading into this round of matches and need to start closing the gap between themselves and Hull FC who currently occupy the final play-off spot. Wigan sit in second and can half the deficit to St Helens with a win here but more importantly can put five points between themselves and third place.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live on the Sky Sports Arena channel with the build-up to the contest beginning at 7.30pm with kick off at Headingley coming at 8pm.
Leeds Rhinos
The Leeds Rhinos have had a real rollercoaster of a season. It started terribly and then started to build up and now they are in a position where each time they look to have got themselves into a position to strike for the top six something goes wrong and they end up having to start all over again. We are in that situation here after their tame defeat to the Toulouse Olympique side last week, although conditions went against them there.
Now they have a number of injuries to deal with which isn’t going to be good for them and it is a shame actually because they looked to be getting to grips with things from an attacking point of view. That was the issue they had at the beginning of the campaign. They have improved defensively under Rohan Smith but you wonder if the injuries will hamper that part of their game and if it does then this could be a long evening for the Rhinos.
Wigan Warriors
The Wigan Warriors have been one of the teams of the season and already have silverware secured. You suspect that having won the Challenge Cup they have built in confidence and they are looking the best team in Super League, even allowing for their narrow loss to St Helens at Magic Weekend when a piece of ill-discipline cost them dearly. That match will act as a reminder that they need to keep their discipline particularly in the big matches.
The Warriors have won five of their six matches since the Challenge Cup win in May with the only defeat coming in that agonising loss to St Helens at the Magic Weekend. Their latest win was an emphatic one over Hull FC where Bevan French broke the record for tries in a match with the seven he went over with. Wigan are also getting better defensively than they were at the beginning of the season and are very much title challengers.
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Team News
Leeds Rhinos get a couple of huge players back here in Zak Hardaker and Harry Newman but they are going to be without the likes of Aiden Sezer, Blake Austin, Kruise Leeming, Matt Prior and Zane Tetevano. That leaves them very light in the halves.
Wigan Warriors could give a debut to Mike Cooper after the forward made his move from the Warrington Wolves a little earlier than planned. There is still no Tommy Leuluai but the Warriors look close to full strength aside from that.
Betting
You get the impression that this match has come at the wrong time for the Leeds Rhinos for a few reasons. One of those is the obvious one that they are carrying a few key injuries too many while another would be that five days ago they were playing in intense heat in France and have had the journey back and things. The other reason is that the Wigan Warriors suddenly look pretty rampant and don’t appear to be slowing down at all.
Wigan have won five of their last six matches and in those five wins they have scored 30 points or more in each of them, culminating with that brutal attacking performance against Hull FC last week. I always think the one position a team can’t afford injuries in these heavyweight matches is in the halves so Leeds Rhinos missing their first-choice pairing is a big problem. Wigan are attacking in style and are hard to get at defensively so I expect them to cover 11.5 points in this one.
Tips
Back Wigan Warriors (-11.5) to beat Leeds Rhinos for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Betfair
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