Good Friday means three absolutely belting derbies in Rivalry Round of the Super League XXX season with the matches coming one after the other on what promises to be the best day of the campaign to date with drama guaranteed.
The beauty about the Super League these days is that every match is live and in full on the TV for us in the UK to enjoy so even though the weather is set to be nice there is no reason not to sit back and watch some serious rugby league being played!
Hull FC vs Hull KR (12.30 – Sky Sports Action)
We begin on Humberside as we traditionally do on Good Friday these days where the Black and Red sides of Hull collide when Hull FC welcome Hull KR to the MKM Stadium as the top two in the table meet in a blockbuster derby match.
These two met here in the Challenge Cup a fortnight ago and Hull KR won on that occasion so Hull FC will be out to avoid a repeat of that. To be fair to Hull, they went to Warrington last weekend and turned them over in some style so that loss hasn’t impacted them. Will Pryce made his debut for the Airlie Birds in that cup match and having had a couple of weeks more training with his teammates you would expect his impact on this game to be more significant than two weeks ago. Mikey Lewis has been named in the Hull KR squad for this one but whether he actually plays is said to be a doubt and even if he does he may not be fully fit. This promises to be a real proper dust up and while I fancy Hull KR might just edge it, if it is won in the halves Hull FC might have enough to get the job done. You can get even money on the home side with a 10 point start here though. That feels a shade too big to me because Hull FC are clearly going to be up for this one. Hull derbies haven’t always been close in recent times but the way the two teams are playing this season I fancy this will be so I’ll play the home side with the start.
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Wigan Warriors vs St Helens (15.00 – Sky Main Event & Sky Action)
The middle match of the three on Friday comes from the Brick Community Stadium where another sell out crowd is expected for the clash between the arch-rivals Wigan Warriors and St Helens in what is another traditional dust up.
Wigan go into this match off the back of a bit of a demolition job on Hull KR in the end last week and will be expected to win this too against aa St Helens side who haven’t really shown much in the way of consistency this season. They did get the better of Wakefield Trinity last week though so they should be feeling better after their cup exit to Warrington the week before which would have wrangled with their minds. Generally matches between these two this early in the season are tight and tense affairs and there isn’t much to suggest that this will be any different. The last two Good Friday matches between these two sides have been low scoring and with St Helens not really flowing in attack yet that is what I am expecting to see here. Saints were free scoring against Salford and Castleford in the opening two rounds of the campaign but they have only scored 20 points or more against Wakefield twice since then. Wigan are improving in attack but it wasn’t until Hull KR tired last week that they flourished going forward. These two hate each other and this is sure to be extremely competitive. I expect points to be at a premium here so I like under 36.5 points in this one.
Leeds Rhinos vs Huddersfield Giants (17.30 – Sky Sports+)
The last match in the triple header on Friday sees us head back to Yorkshire for the clash between the Leeds Rhinos and a Huddersfield Giants outfit who must have got the season start date completely wrong because theirs hasn’t got going at all yet.
Huddersfield are yet to win a match this season and their injury list just gets longer and longer and you have to fear the worst for them in this one because they could be ruthlessly exposed through the middle. Leeds Rhinos look to be building a head of steam at just the right time and that bodes well for them both here and for the remainder of the season but they are being asked to cover a 24 point handicap in this one. I would probably still rather be on the Rhinos to cover than not but only Hull KR and Wigan have covered this line against the Giants this season despite all the Huddersfield issues. Leeds have covered this line against Salford twice but they won by 26 and 28 points in those two matches and I’m not convinced Huddersfield are much worse than Salford. I might get on Leeds to cover if the two other bets have landed and I’m playing with the house money but until then I’ll keep my powder dry in this one.
Tips
Back Hull FC (+10) to beat Hull KR for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
Back Wigan Warriors vs St Helens – Under 36.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
