Hull FC favourites to beat Warrington

Friday night Rugby comes from the KCOM Stadium as Warrington make the long trip over the Pennines.

The last time the two sides met here the visitors won in the Super 8s to win the League Leaders’ Shield, avenging Hull’s win at Wembley in last year’s Challenge Cup Final.

Whilst both sides won last week, they did it in contrasting circumstances, Warrington had to come from behind to beat Wakefield whilst Hull survived a Castleford fightback, having 12 men for an hour of the game. Hull were leading 18-0 before the sending off.

Watts is banned for Hull following the sending off last Sunday and they are still missing key hooker Danny Houghton, the Wolves welcome back Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper and Matty Russell.

Super League sponsors Betfred give the visitors a 6-point start on the handicap for this in a game that is tough to call.

FC look to have finally found a way of playing without Houghton as they have won their last two games, including the impressive win over leaders Castleford last week.

They hadn’t won for three games prior to that though since the hooker went off injured at Wigan, including a draw at the HJ against tonight’s opponents.

Warrington should really have won that at the end but the black and whites held on for a point. Wire are now five games unbeaten after a nightmare start to the season, they are gradually getting their key players back and will be full of confidence, especially Ratchford and Hill who will be flying off to play for England on Saturday week.

This game should be very tight but fatigue could be key, Hull played an hour with 12 men only five days ago and that could take its toll as the game goes on, I think Warrington could snatch this but 13/8 for the win is just a little too short, safer option surely is Warrington getting a 6-point start on the handicap at slightly lesser odds (especially when the draw is a real contender).

The home side are 8/15 to win this, you can boost this to 10/11 on the Half Time Full Time, but I think the visitors can win a tight one by around 6-10 points, though neither result would be a surprise.

Warrington turned around a half time deficit at home to Wakefield last week and given Hull could suffer with fatigue, there could be value in the 9/1 for Hull to be leading at Half Time and Warrington to win the game.

Fonua and Lineham head first try markets at around 10/1 in a very open market, I’d prefer Shaul at around 12/1 and Ratchford at 18/1.

Scott Taylor scored against Castleford last week and 6/1 look good value odds for him to follow up today.

Finally, the man of the match, a wide-open market in Primrose and Blue, Brown, Patton and Clark head the betting for Warrington at around 10/1 but a real outsider like Savelio could offer decent value here at a massive 40/1, he made good yards last week and the Sky team seem to be favouring the big boys up front.

Sneyd is the market leader at 13/2 but I just prefer his half-back partner Albert Kelly at 8/1.

One other game tonight sees Leigh travel to St Helens, the Centurions beat Saints at LSV in March but six defeats in a row has seen the visitors given odds of 10/3 for a win.

I certainly can’t see that given they’ve not won on their travels all season and were knocked out of the Cup last week by Hull KR. Saints form is patchy to say the least with three wins and three defeats in their last six and they look short at 2/9 to win the game.

Neither price really appeals but the Centurions get a 12-point start on the handicap and they may just stay inside that, possibly a 6-10-point home win.

Leigh forward Sam Hopkins has already scored four tries this season and 7/1 looks too big for him to get over the whitewash again.

We’ll be back for Thursday night Rugby next week. As always please gamble responsibly.