St Helens won't be fazed by trip to Warrington

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St Helens confirmed the appointment on Thursday of Sydney Roosters assistant coach Justin Holbrook as their new head coach to replace Keiron Cunningham who was sacked last month.

The Australian is 12-1 to turn the Saints’ season around and win the Grand Final in October but he won’t be at the helm for this trip to Warrington as he awaits his work permit.

St Helens sit seventh after a frustratingly inconsistent year in which one of their best performances was the 31-6 demolition of the Wolves in March.

Adam Swift bagged a brace of tries that night and is evens to get on the scoresheet again.

A trip to the Halliwell Jones Stadium won’t faze Saints who have lost only four of their last 28 matches on Warrington soil so the evens offered against an away win is an appealing price.

Especially when you consider how disappointing the Wolves have been in 2017. Last weekend’s 34-10 thrashing at Hull brought a five match unbeaten run to an end and even when winning, Tony Smith’s team have been largely unimpressive.

England call-ups have robbed the hosts of Chris Hill, Stefan Ratchford and Kevin Brown and while Saints have Mark Percival and Alex Walmsley absent for the same reason, they’re boosted by the return of James Roby from a five-match injury absence.

Bet365 offer Saints backers the added safety net of a two-point start at 10-11 and that looks the way to go.

Salford have never won at the DW Stadium and have never started favourites for a Betfred Super League match at Wigan but the layers are struggling to split the sides as the Red Devils travel to face the Warriors.

Salford were 6-4 earlier in the week but most bookmakers now go 10-11 the pair after Wigan coach Shaun Wane confirmed he was without 13 first teamers.

The absentees include captain Sean O’Loughlin, hooker Michael McIlorum and half backs George Williams and Tommy Leuluai.

Salford coach Ian Watson also has his problems with eight players missing including Justin Carney who starts an eight-match ban for racially abusing Toronto’s Ryan Bailey in the recent Ladbrokes Challenge Cup tie.

Given the understrength sides, the match is a tricky puzzle to solve and punters are advised to maintain a watching brief.

Recommendation
St Helens +2
2pts 10-11 bet365