The Betfred Super League, Championship and Championship One have twenty games scheduled for the weekend spread over three days starting with league leaders St Helens against Hull FC this evening as Super League asks who can halt Justin Holbrook’s side.
There are three Super League games on Saturday afternoon at Salford, Catalans and Hull KR with Championship action at Toulouse and a Championship One game at London Skolars.
The rest of the programme is played on Sunday afternoon as the jostling for the important positions heads to the mid-way stage in the first part of the season.
Saints could be six points clear at the end of the night unless Lee Radford’s Hull FC have something that all but the Rhinos have failed to deliver so far this season. Carlos Tuimavave, Danny Houghton and Jamie Shaul are all back in the nineteen man Airlie Birds squad and Sika Manu is also a possibility to return after almost a month on the side lines. Once again Saints name and unchanged nineteen after the perfect Easter with Jonny Lomax expected to be back in the seventeen after being rested on Monday. The bookies are expecting a straight forward Saints victory.
The Red Devils and the Wolves have an intriguing fixture at 15:15 on Saturday afternoon when they meet at the AJ Bell Stadium. Ian Watson has recalled Lee Mossop, Mark Flanagan and Craig Kopczak after the embarrassing nilling to Leeds on Easter Monday and loan signing from the Wigan Warriors Jake Shorrocks is likely to make his Red Devils debut. Warrington are up to third in Super League and have made just one change to the squad with Morgan Smith in for the injured Ben Murdoch-Masila (knee) as they look to make it five wins on the bounce. The bookies can’t see past a Wolves win.
Wigan Warriors travel to Perpignan for the 17:15 kick-off to take on a Dragons side who managed their second win of the season on Easter Monday. The only change in the home nineteen is Ben Garcia coming in for Alrix Da Costa but Shaun Wane makes three changes with Taulima Tautai, Sean O’Loughlin and Sam Powell all back in the reckoning with Tom Davies, Josh Ganson and Josh Woods the players to miss out. The visitors are the odds-on favourites to take the points.
Saturday’s final Super League game is in Hull where KR face the Widnes Vikings as eleventh host eighth. It’s bitter sweet news for home supporters as they welcome back Shaun Lunt, Danny McGuire, Andrew Heffernan, Robbie Mulhern, Jordan Walne and Danny Tickle to the nineteen man squad and boosted by the news that Ben Kavanagh and Adam Quinlan are also named despite picking up injuries over Easter. Unfortunately Nick Scruton and Lee Jewitt will be out with injuries picked up on Monday. For Widnes, youngster Keanan Brand is in the frame for his debut. The bookies think that this will be a home win as KR continue their quest to avoid the middle eights.
There are two games in West Yorkshire on Sunday afternoon with two local derbies. Huddersfield Giants will look to put Monday’s poor performance behind them as they take on the Tigers. At the time of writing the squads had not been named but the Giants injury woes have not eased as they try and find a squad of nineteen fit players, the Tigers are almost at full strength and looking for a top four place with them being the clear favourites for the win.
Leeds Rhinos are on the road to Wakefield Trinity in the final game of the round. Leeds are favourites to pick up the points but don’t have the best of histories at Belle Vue against an inconsistent Wakefield. The bookies think that the Rhinos will get the win but it’s not clear cut.
In the Championship there is one game on Saturday afternoon as Barrow are in Toulouse for the 14:00 kick-off. The remainder of games are 15:00 kick-off’s on Sunday as with the exception of Halifax against the London Broncos all of the top six play bottom six opposition. Toronto will seek to maintain their top spot as they play at Batley and Featherstone Rovers entertain the Dewsbury Rams. Leigh are at the LSV to take on Rochdale Hornets with the final game being between the bottom two as Swinton play the Sheffield Eagles.
In the Championship One you could take in the following (all at 15:00);
Saturday
London Skolars v. West Wales Raiders
Sunday
Coventry v. Whitehaven
Doncaster v. North Wales
Keighley v. Hemel
Newcastle v. York
Oldham v. Hunslet
Workington v. Bradford
Where ever you are going to watch your rugby this weekend, enjoy.
