Sorry St Helens may struggle to stop Sneyd

Betfred Super League
Sky Sports 2, 8pm

St Helens and Leeds have won 12 Grand Finals between them but even though this Betfred Super League season is still in its infancy the pressure is already mounting on both clubs and their coaches.

Keiron Cunningham’s Saints slumped to second straight shock defeat against Wakefield last weekend to leave them perilously placed in the bottom four.

The only side they’ve beaten are Brian McDermott’s Rhinos who suffered a club -record Super League loss when they were annihilated 66-10 at Castleford eight days ago.

Both teams are struggling to score tries and rank 11th and 12th in the points-per-game stats.

Things are unlikely to get any easier for St Helens as they travel to Hull, who boast the best defence in the competition having conceded just 32 points in their three matches.

Cunningham has axed rookie scrum-half Danny Richardson and is set to pair Tommy Lee and Theo Fages in a makeshift half-back combination in the absence of injured playmaker Matty Smith.

Hull boss Lee Radford is still without the injured Gareth Ellis and suspended Liam Watts so is likely to keep faith with the team who demolished injury-hit Huddersfield last time out.

It may be prudent not to go overboard about that result as Hull’s previous performance was a poor one in a 16-14 home loss to Catalans but the Black & Whites will take plenty of heart from having scrum-half Marc Sneyd back in top form.

Sneyd scored 28 points in a man-of-the-match display and rates a fair bet at 6-1 for individual honours tonight.

He can lead his team to victory by more than the six-point handicap offered to the struggling Saints.

Things may get better for Leeds as they face Catalans at Headingley.

After the battering at Cas, Rhinos CEO Gary Hetherington made it clear that he will be conducting a full review after the next four games and it’s worth backing the Rhinos to respond.

Rob Burrow, Carl Ablett and Tom Briscoe all return and it’s surprising that Ladbrokes make Leeds underdogs against a Dragons side who couldn’t hold on to a 14-point lead at home to Widnes last weekend.

Bookmakers have made Leigh favourites for the first time since their return to Super League as they host Huddersfield.

The four-point handicap handed to the Giants is difficult to quibble with.

Recommendations
Hull -6
2pts 5-6 Betway
M Sneyd man of the match
1pt 6-1 Hills, Sky Bet
Leeds
6pts 11-10 Ladbrokes