Leeds Rhinos v St Helens: Super League betting preview, TV channel & free tips

Leeds Rhinos v St Helens
Sky Sports Arena & Main Event, 7.45pm Thursday

The weekend before the Coral Challenge Cup Final is always a tricky one for rugby league punters.

How will the two finalists perform in their last Betfred Super League match before the Wembley showpiece? Will they field a strong side or rest their star players?

There is not much help to be found in the history books. Although last year both Catalans and Warrington were beaten in their pre-Wembley outings, the previous ten finalists had produced five winners and five losers the week before the big day.

Assessing how St Helens will perform at Leeds is far from easy. When the market opened, bookmakers were struggling to find a favourite but Saints have been backed down to 8-11 with the Rhinos drifting to 11-8.

Coach Justin Holbrook has named a fairly strong squad but star trio Lachlan Coote, James Roby and Alex Walmsley are all missing and there is still some scope for one or two other key men to be given the night off.

The table-toppers wrapped up the League Leaders’ Shield a fortnight ago so some may question their motivation for this game. However, there has been no sign of a drop-off from Super League’s dominant force in recent weeks as they have pulled further clear of the chasing pack.

Saints are now 14 points clear and their regular-season record since the start of 2018 reads: won 48, lost seven. That is enough to make Leeds look unappealing at the prices despite the Rhinos' recent resurgence.

Richard Agar’s team have racked up 92 points and conceded just eight in resounding wins over Catalans and Huddersfield but this fixture is a huge step up in class.

Leeds hope to have Stevie Ward back in action for the first time since he injured his knee at St Helens six months ago.

The Rhinos lost that match 27-22 after leading 22-10 at half-time and they were beaten 36-10 at Saints in June. On both occasions, the Rhinos conceded two tries in the opening ten minutes so they need to start much better this time around.

It may be worth betting that they do manage a strong start before St Helens stage a familiar second-half rally.

Backing Leeds to be in front at the break and the visitors to win appeals at 7-1 as Saints have recovered from a 40-minute deficit to prevail four times this year.

Only Salford’s Niall Evalds has scored more Super League tries this year than Leeds winger Ash Handley and the Leeds flyer’s record against Saints is extraordinary.

Handley has scored 11 tries in seven starts including two hat-tricks. He’s drawn a blank just once and looks worth backing at evens to touch down.

Recommendations
A Handley to score a try
2pts Evs general
Leeds-St Helens double result
1pt 7-1 Betfred, Sky Bet

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