Wednesday, 12 March 2014

Super League Round Five Preview

Round Five sees a return to the regular Friday and Sunday games as Thursday night RL takes a break but will be back in the next round with the fierce Wolves v Warriors clash.

Friday begins with Wigan looking to bounce back from Sunday's defeat to Castleford when they host Hull KR in their annual 'Heritage Day fixture'. Last year's meeting saw the Rovers narrowly lose 21-16 in round 23, the last regular round win that Wigan had in 2013 despite going on to win the Grand Final. KR go into the game still without a win in 2014 but Wigan will be wary of the fact that they came back to draw against Huddersfield who themselves beat the Warriors.

Hull KR will be glad it is at the DW on Friday as at home in 2013, they were hammered 46-14 in the CC and famously crushed 84-6 in the league game so will take confidence from their showing back In August.

Wigan welcome back captain Sean O'Loughlin and Darrell Goulding while Hull KR will hand a debut to loan signing Ade Gardner who has joined from St Helens but top scorer Omari Caro misses out again due to injury.

Wigan -1 Matty Bowen, 32 Joe Burgess, 2 Josh Charnley, 24 Tony Clubb, 17 Dom Crosby, 16 Gil Dudson, 12 Liam Farrell, 10 Ben Flower, 3 Darrell Goulding, 6 Blake Green, 14 Jack Hughes, 28 Jordan James,13 Sean O'Loughlin, 22 Eddy Pettybourne, 7 Matty Smith, 8 Scott Taylor, 4 Iain Thornley, 15 Logan Tomkins, 27 George Williams.

Hull KR - Travis Burns, Keal Carlile, Ben Cockayne, Neville Costigan,Jordan Cox, Greg Eden, Ade Gardner, James Green, Josh Hodgson, Graeme Horne, Kris Keating, Jamie Langley, Kevin Larroyer, Jason Netherton, Justin Poore, Liam Salter, Adam Walker, Kris Welham, Mick Weyman.

As Wigan play first this week, no further preview is need so my prediction features in this post and I am going for a Wigan win so Wigan 30 Hull KR 18.

St Helens will look to retain top spot when they host the struggling Catalans Dragons who are still without a win and had planned to stay in the UK after their loss at Wakefield. However, the manner of the defeat led to a crisis meeting in France that saw Jamal Fakir dropped to the reserve grade until May and Brent Webb subject to tests on his fitness.

Catalans are without 12 of their regulars and will hope to avoid a heavy defeat against a side that in recent years they have had some good wins against but the form that Saints are in especially the likes of Swift and Walsh put them as heavy favourites and I cannot see anything but a home win so Saints 36 Catalans 12.
 
St Helens - 1. Jonny Lomax, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Jordan Turner, 4. Josh Jones, 5. Adam Swift, 6. Lance Hohaia, 7. Luke Walsh, 8. Mose Masoe, 9. James Roby, 10. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 11. Sia Soliola, 12. Jon Wilkin, 13. Willie Manu, 14. Anthony Laffranchi, 16. Kyle Amor, 17. Paul Wellens, 18. Alex Walmsley, 25. Anthony Walker, 27. Greg Richards.

Catalans-2. Morgan Escaré, 3. Leon Pryce, 5. Michael Oldfield, 6. Thomas Bosc, 10. Jeff Lima, 11. Zeb Taia, 13. Greg Mounis, 14. William Barthau, 16. Eloi Pelissier, 17. Elliott Whitehead, 19. Mathias Pala, 20. Mickael Simon, 23. Lopini Paea, 24. Jason Baitieri, 27. Jean-Philippe Baile, 28. Frédéric Vaccari, 29. Benjamin Garcia, 30. Gadwin Springer, 31. Maxime Scimone.

Widnes travel to Yorkshire with an 100% record but will have that record severely tested by a Leeds Rhinos side who themselves are unbeaten but without a perfect record after a 12 all draw against neighbours Huddersfield. Widnes are a surprise quantity this year but have a major scalp to their name after stunning Huddersfield and sit fourth after beating Salford 32-18 last week. Leeds despite the Hudds draw have been with the form of new signing Tom Briscoe a major factor.

Leeds -  Zak Hardaker, Ben Jones-Bishop, Kallum Watkins, Joel Moon, Ryan Hall, Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow, Kylie Leuluai, Paul Aiton, Jamie Peacock, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Carl Ablett, Kevin Sinfield (c), Stevie Ward,Brett Delaney, Ryan Bailey, Mitch Achurch, Tom Briscoe, Brad Singleton.
 
Widnes - Ah Van, Brown, Clarke, Clough, Craven, Dean, Flynn, Galea, Gerrard, Hanbury, Isa, Kavanagh, Leuluai, Lloyd, Mellor, Owens, Phelps, Tickle, White

This has the makings of a really tight game with both sides strong in defence and attack and could be the game of the week, prediction wise I think Leeds will sneak a win so Widnes 20 Leeds 22.

Friday's fourth game sees Salford's hoping lightning doesn't strike twice as they host last season's losing Grand Finalists Warrington after their last home game saw them crushed 0-38 by St Helens. Both sides have had similar starts to 2014 with two wins out of four and with the hosts looking to bounce back from last week's defeat away to Widnes while the Wolves will hope to make it two wins in a row after the second half fightback saw them win at London.

Salford's new-look squad have yet to show that they can match the top sides but this could be the game that they do with Warrington not as strong as they were in 2013 and after a shocking first half against London showing that they are vulnerable in defence.

Salford include loan signing Dom Manfredi from Wigan and a focus will be on Adrian Morley who face his former side with who he captained to numerous successes in both league and cup while Warrington will hand a debut to Matthew Russell who was injured after signing in pre-season.

Salford- 1. Jake Mullaney 2. Danny Williams 3. Martin Gleeson 4. Junior Sau 7. Tim Smith 8. Adrian Morley  9. Tommy Lee 10.Lama Tasi 11.Tony Puletua 13.Harrison Hanson 14.Theo Fages 16.Andrew Dixon 17.Shannon Mcpherson 19. Matty Ashurst 20. Adam Walne 21. Jordan Walne 22. Jason Walton 23.Greg Johnson 34. Dom Manfredi

Warrington -  Roy Asotasi, Ryan Atkins,Chris Bridge, Ben Evans,Rhys Evans,Simon Grix, Micky Higham, Chris Hill, James Laithwaite,Joel Monaghan,Michael Monaghan,Richie Myler,Gareth O’Brien, Gene Ormsby, Stefan Ratchford, Glenn Riley, Matthew Russell, Trent Waterhouse, Ben Westwood

 This could be a close one on paper so I am sticking my neck out here and going for a draw so Salford 24 Warrington 24.
 

The lack of a Thursday game this round sees a Saturday game as London host Wakefield in a 3pm kick-off. This game in recent years would be a battle at the bottom but after a crushing first win of 2014 over Catalans, Wakefield sit ninth and a place above defending champions Wigan as they look for a second successive win while heaping further trouble on the struggling Broncos.

London looked to be on for a shock win on Sunday when they led 16-14 at home to Warrington but capitulated in the second half and went on to lose 16-44 to keep them winless and in 13th (only off the bottom due to Bradford's point deduction.) Wakefield boast a superb attack but have conceded 100+ in their four games so London will look to exploit that leaky defence in their hopes for a first win.

Wakefield to triumph here but not easily so London 18 Wakefield 24.

Sunday sees Bradford host Huddersfield with the Bulls looking for their third win of 2014 and to take them back away from their negative points total after their six point deduction. Huddersfield will hope to get back to winning ways having not won since the opening weekend against Wigan with draws against Hull KR and Leeds and the loss at Widnes.

Bradford were hammered by a strong Hull side last week and had negative of loan signing Greg Burke being sidelined with an injury but will take confidence from the last meeting in September where they won 58-6 despite facing a youthful Giants side who had already sealed the LLS but will also take solace from Huddersfield's mixed form that sees them sixth despite won fewer win than their hosts.

Another exciting Yorkshire derby could be on the cards but I think Huddersfield will avenge last seasons defeat and improve their form with a win so Bradford 18 Huddersfield 30.

The final game of the weekend sees Castleford host Hull with both sides coming off the back of victories in round four with the hosts claiming a last-gasp 36-31 win over Wigan to maintain their 100% record while the vistors crushed Bradford 44-16.

Castleford will be without Kirk Dixon who suffered a broken jaw in the Wigan win while Justin Carney will available for selection after avoiding a ban for punching John Bateman in the same game while Tom Lineham will miss out for the Black and White after fracturing his ankle in the win over Bradford.

This could be close with both in good form but after watching Cas first hand in the win over Wigan, I think they will make it five wins in a row so Castleford 32 Hull 22.

A really exciting programme of games overall with the potential for unbeaten records to tumble and for other teams to get their first win of the season.




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