The Super League XXX season is full steam ahead to Old Trafford now that the Challenge Cup has come and gone and it continues on Friday night when two matches take place with big implications on the top six highly likely.
As is the case throughout the course of the campaign now, both matches are on TV but annoyingly you will need more than one device to watch them both because they kick off at the same time, however on a balmy evening there is no reason not to sit back with a beer and watch the rugby.
Hull KR vs Catalans Dragons (20.00 – Sky Sports+)
The pick of the two matches on Friday night takes us to Craven Park where the Challenge Cup winners Hull KR will be in action for the first time since their Wembley win when they host a Catalans Dragons side who have disintegrated at the seams in recent weeks.
The Dragons will be dearly hoping that the week off has served them well and allowed them to come together and work out what has been going wrong and how they can put things right. They would be justified in saying that injuries haven’t helped their cause but injuries or no injuries you can’t go scoreless in three successive matches like they have done so there will be a lot of attention on their attacking play here. The last thing they needed is to run into the best defence in the Super League so far this season. Worst still for the Dragons, Hull KR aren’t just built on defence, they have one of the best attacks in the competition too who wear down the opposition. They weren’t at their most fluent best in offense last week at Wembley but there was a lot of pressure on them in that match. There isn’t as much jeopardy on this one so it would be a surprise if Mikey Lewis and co don’t wreak havoc once again. There is the potential for this one to get messy for the French side but at the same time Hull KR could suffer a comedown so I think I’ll watch this one rather than bet on it, although the 18 start for the Dragons is tempting me. I’m just not sure I can trust them enough to pull the trigger on it though.
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Hull FC vs Castleford Tigers (20.00 – Sky Sports+)
The other match on the evening comes from the western part of the city of Hull where we have a bit of a Yorkshire derby between Hull FC and the Castleford Tigers with both sides keen to get back to action with the two points for winning here.
Hull FC went into the break for the Challenge Cup off the back of successive wins. You could argue that they didn’t beat much in the Catalans Dragons last time out, such is their current struggles, but the win at Leigh before that was very encouraging and they will be looking to consolidate their spot in the top six with a win on home soil here. Castleford Tigers haven’t had the first half of the season that they were looking for but if they can get on a run there is still a spot in the top six up for grabs but they are going to need to come out of the Challenge Cup break much better than they went into it. To be fair to the Tigers, they are competitive in most of their matches and might run into Hull FC at the right time here with Will Pryce out with injury along with John Asiata and Ligi Sao, three pretty big players for them. Cas have had a couple of weeks to get Tom Amone up to speed and integrated in the side and they have a lot of ex-Hull FC players who might think they have a bit to prove here. I would still expect Hull to come out on top here but the 16 point start feels a bit too much to cover to me.
Tips
Back Castleford Tigers (+16) to beat Hull FC for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
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