The Super League XXX season resumes on Thursday evening after the break for the Challenge Cup semi-finals and it does so with a repeat of the 2021 Grand Final between St Helens and Catalans Dragons at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
These two sides sit either side of the top six line as we head towards the halfway point in the regular season and with both wanting to be in the playoffs at the end of the year this feels like a crossroads match for the pair of them.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports+ channel with the build-up beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off.
St Helens
The break for the Challenge Cup semi-finals probably couldn’t have come at a better time for St Helens. They went into it having lost three matches in succession, the latest against the Leeds Rhinos in a match where they offered little in truth. There were plenty of rumours doing the rounds after that game that Paul Wellens had left his position as head coach such are their struggles at the minute, however that talk was unfounded but there is no getting away from the fact that Wellens, and his team, are under pressure here.
The big concern for the Saints is that those three recent losses were all against top six chasing sides so not only have they lost them, they have lost ground to rivals for a position in which they are anything but guaranteed of securing. Statistics will tell us that St Helens have the third best attack in the competition but we have to remember that 82 of their 252 points this term came in that walkover against Salford Red Devils in the opening round. Saints have only scored 20 points or more in one of their last seven matches in all competitions.
Catalans Dragons
You would have to say that the schedule has gone against the Catalans Dragons a little here. They were involved in a Challenge Cup semi-final, and a pretty brutal one at that, as recently as Saturday afternoon and now they have to go again five days later. They also have to put behind them the fact that they were beaten by Hull KR in that semi-final and therefore missed out on Wembley behind them in a fairly short space of time.
To be fair, losing to Hull KR isn’t a terrible result. Most teams are doing that at the minute and for the first 40 minutes at least, the Dragons were extremely competitive, however once Hull KR got on a roll they had no answer. That makes it successive defeats for Catalans after their loss to the Leigh Leopards at the Magic Weekend and they will be looking to get back on track here. The one good thing for Catalans is their attack looks to be flourishing. They just need to tighten up defensively.
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Team News
Paul Wellens has made one change to the Magic Weekend squad with Dayon Sambou missing out and Jake Burns coming into the 21-man setup. Deon Cross is in line for his home debut after first appearing for the club at St James’ Park.
Catalans Dragons picked up a trio of injuries in the cup semi-final which means that Tommy Makinson, Benjamin Garcia and Julian Bousquet all miss out here. Elliott Whitehead is suspended but Arthur Romano returns to the squad.
Betting
I just can’t be having this St Helens team at the minute. If it wasn’t for Catalans Dragons carrying a few injuries then I would gladly take them to win this match but given that they do have those injuries I will side with the French outfit on the handicap where they are getting a large looking 12 points. St Helens have only scored 20 points or more in one of their last seven matches and if they don’t get beyond that total here then the Dragons will only need to get double figures to cover this spread.
Catalans have a pretty decent record against St Helens in recent times. They have won five of their last seven meetings against them and the two they have lost, which admittedly have been the last two matches, have been by 12 points and one point so even when Saints win they don’t run away with it. It might be the case that this is tight and very competitive for an hour and then the Dragons tire and Saints’ freshness comes through but if that is the case St Helens just want to win and ease the pressure on them. I don’t think they’ll be hell bent on covering a 12 point start so I’ll take the Dragons to carry that dozen successfully.
Tips
Back Catalans Dragons (+12) to beat St Helens for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
