The festival of rugby league that is the Super League Magic Weekend takes place on Saturday and Sunday and beginning the triple header on the opening day of proceedings at St James’ Park are the Leigh Leopards and Catalans Dragons.
Leigh have the chance to move into the top two with a win here ahead of the remainder of the weekend, whereas the Dragons can make their way into the top six for a few hours at least so this one looks a nice opener to the weekend.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Action channel with the build-up beginning at 2.30pm ahead of the 3pm kick off.
Leigh Leopards
The Leigh Leopards have made a very acceptable start to their season. They remain the only team to have beaten the Wigan Warriors this term and in total have six wins and a draw from their nine matches in the Super League and another one here will really consolidate their top six credentials, particularly given that it is against a team who could be a rival for that position. It would also be a fourth straight win in the competition for the Leopards.
Leigh are doing it the hard way too because they are carrying a few injuries, especially in their backs and perhaps that is hindering their attack a little. It hasn’t mattered though because their defence has really stood up to be counted. In the three most recent wins, Leigh have conceded just 26 points in total. That defence will need to step up here because the big pitch and platform usually makes for higher scoring matches which could be a concern.
Catalans Dragons
The Catalans Dragons made a fairly quiet start to the season it has to be said but they have clicked into gear recently and will be heading to Newcastle looking to make a real statement. The French outfit have won six of their last seven matches in all competitions and have a Challenge Cup semi-final against Hull KR next week to look forward to. If they can find a win here they would announce themselves as big players this term.
The Dragons have really come to the fore with the ball in hand in recent times and their expensive, explosive attack is starting to really dominate sides which will be music to their ears when you consider these Magic Weekend matches are often high scoring events. They still aren’t quite tight defensively but when you can put up the level of points that the Dragons are doing at the minute then that doesn’t really matter. This is a big couple of weeks for the Catalans.
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Team News
Adrian Lam has confirmed that David Armstrong, Frankie Halton and Keanan Brand for this match while the likes of Gareth O’Brien, Jack Hughes, Umyla Hanley and Tesi Niu are all doubts and with a cup semi-final next week may be saved for that.
Steve McNamara has been able to call Sam Tomkins back into his squad for this match but he will be without former St Helens winger Tommy Makinson. Leo Darrelatour comes in for Franck Maria in the other change.
Betting
This looks a perfectly appetising opener to the Magic Weekend but I am a little surprised that the Leigh Leopards are as short as they are to come out on top in the match. Admittedly the Leopards have never lost at Magic but that sort of record is there to be broken. I always want to be on the better attacking side at the Magic Weekend. It is the only time I do because this is still a showpiece weekend for the sport and after the off-field issues Super League has seen this season it will want entertainment to come regularly in these six matches.
Catalans Dragons have the better attack for me and more importantly they are carrying less injuries than the Leopards which is significant. This is ultimately just a regular season Super League game so those players who are doubtful for Leigh could easily be saved for the cup semi-final next week. For Catalans, Luke Keary has had a bit too much to say for himself recently and his rugby will need to do some talking here. If he can pull the strings with a performance we know that he is capable of then the Dragons could go very close to winning here. I’ll back the Magic Weekend to begin with a betting upset.
Tips
Back Catalans Dragons to beat Leigh Leopards for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with William Hill
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