Catalans Dragons v Salford Red Devils line-ups predicted with raft of changes expected

Salford Red Devils have been boosted by the return of a number of star names ahead of tonight’s clash against Catalans Dragons. Salford make the trip to Perpignan hoping to claim a spot in the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup.

Given their recent fortunes and their resulting lack of form, Paul Rowley’s side are underdogs for the contest, but Catalans are hardly in a rich vein of form, either. The Dragons have won just two of their six league games this season and come into the contest on the back of a marginal defeat to St Helens last weekend.

As such, Salford might just fancy their chances of upsetting the odds in the south of France and Rowley has picked a squad capable of doing just that. Here’s how we think both teams might line up at the Stade Gilbert Brutus.

Ryan Brierley will start at full-back once more, while it would certainly not be a surprise if Rowley named an outside back line of Deon Cross, Esan Marsters, Jonny Vaughan and Chris Hankinson, with the latter returning from injury in time to feature in the cup.

Jayden Nikorima and Chris Atkin are back in the fold and they could feature in the halves together, while Joe Mellor looks set to make his first appearance of the season in the hooker spot. Chris Hill and Jack Ormondroyd continue to put their bodies on the line for the Salford cause in the middle, and the returning Kallum Watkins looks set to feature in the back-row, with Joe Shorrocks back at loose-forward.

Steve McNamara only made one change to his squad for the contest and it wouldn’t be a shock if he named a relatively similar line up. An unchanged back line is expected, with potentially the only change to the starting XIII coming at hooker with Benjamin Garcia in the running to return to action.

That would see Alrix Da Costa move onto the bench and potentially sit alongside the returning Tariq Sims, who is fit to play after missing the few weeks of action.

Predicted Catalans Dragons line-up: Sam Tomkins; Tommy Makinson, Matthieu Laguerre, Reimis Smith, Nick Cotric; Luke Keary, Theo Fages; Tevita Pangai Jr, Benjamin Garcia, Julian Bousquet; Bayley Sironen, Elliott Whitehead; Oliver Partington.

Bench: Chris Satae, Tariq Sims, Paul Seguier, Alrix Da Costa.

Predicted Salford Red Devils line-up: Ryan Brierley; Deon Cross, Esan Marsters, Jonny Vaughan, Chris Hankinson; Chris Atkin, Jayden Nikorima; Chris Hill, Joe Mellor, Jack Ormondroyd; Kallum Watkins, Shane Wright; Joe Shorrocks.

Bench: Tiaki Chan, Matty Foster, Kai Morgan, George Hill.