The next round of matches in the Super League XXX season begins on Thursday night when two sides who are chasing a top six finish meet at the Leigh Sports Village where the Leigh Leopards entertain a Hull FC side.
Both teams go into this one off the back of defeats last week so they will be eager to make up for that and get back to winning ways. This is a chance for them to put a little pressure on those around them who play later in the week.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports+ channel with the short build-up beginning at 7.55pm ahead of the kick off at 8pm.
Leigh Leopards
The Leigh Leopards are enjoying a decent season but there will be a tinge of disappoint in their mouths at the minute. They passed up the chance to reach the Challenge Cup final at Wembley a couple of weeks ago and then went down to Wigan Warriors in the Super League last week. They put up creditable efforts in both matches though so it isn’t like they did too much wrong. They will just be hoping for a bounce of the ball to go in their favour to get them back to winning ways.
The big positive for the Leopards in that defeat last week was that they put 28 points up on the Warriors and there aren’t many teams who have the attacking credentials to do that. They will have been disappointed that their defence wasn’t as strong as it has been but despite that there were plenty of things to take from that match. If their defence can tighten up a touch here then we saw last week that they have the attacking output to win this match.
Hull FC
It feels like we are at a crossroads for the season for Hull FC. They were going along brilliantly until they ran into their city rivals Hull KR in the quarter final of the Challenge Cup. They were well beaten in that match and in the five Super League since then they have only won once and have lost their last four matches. Defeats to Hull KR and Wigan Warriors were excusable but they would have been extremely disappointed to lose to the Huddersfield Giants at the Magic Weekend and were in front of the Leeds Rhinos until the last knockings last week which would have hurt.
Hull FC haven’t been helped with injuries which has meant that their side has had to rotate quite a bit in the last few weeks. They were still missing players against Leeds last week but they did look much better for having had the break and will be hoping to find that little bit extra here which could get them over the line. They have a quality set of backs but just aren’t quite punching their way through defences as much as they would want to. That has to change here.
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Team News
Leigh Leopards have named Frankie Halton in their squad as he has recovered from injury but there is no David Armstrong so Bailey Hodgson is expected to continue at full-back. Gareth O’Brien misses out having picked up an injury.
Hull FC coach John Cartwright has been forced into a change for this match as Jordan Rapana failed his HIA at Leeds and therefore can’t feature in this one. Matty Laidlaw comes into the travelling party in his place.
Betting
This match feels a little closer than the odds suggest to me. Much will be made that Hull FC have lost four on the spin but we really shouldn’t criticise them for losing to Hull KR and Wigan Warriors. They are the two best teams in the competition so it is no disgrace to lose to them. The two they will be judged on are the Huddersfield loss at Magic Weekend and Leeds last week. The former they were down to 12 men and the latter they were winning until a couple of minutes from the end so 4/9 Leigh and 2/1 Hull FC feels quite wide to me.
Leigh generally have a decent home record but I can’t get the fact that Wakefield Trinity went to the Leigh Sports Village and put 40 points up on them and the Leopards are beginning to pick up a few injuries that they could do without. Hull FC are missing one or two as well but they are in the areas where they look to have sufficient enough cover. I expect this to be a tight game and I’m tempted to just play safe and take the black and whites with the six point start but I just can’t ignore the 2/1 price so I’ll back Hull FC to win the game.
Tips
Back Hull FC to beat Leigh Leopards for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Betway
