Thursday Night Rugby League

By The Man

Hull FC v Hull KR



15th July 19:45 GMT
Sky Sports 2 (19:30-21:45), Sky Sports HD2 (19:30-21:45)

An early start to Super League this week with the Hull derby our Thursday night fare. Both teams go in to the fixture in contrasting form the previous weekend. Hull KR put in their best performance of the season to sink champions Leeds whilst Hull were woeful in defeat at Wakefield, perhaps their mind was on tonight's fixture. This derby game will be very intense and passionate and to a degree the formbook can be thrown out of the window as both teams raise their game.

Prior to the defeat at Wakefield the black and whites were on a strong run of form but I said last week that losing talisman Sean Long was a massive blow and I can see their season being derailed. Without Long they look clueless in attack and if they are to win games it will be committed defence that sees them through.

Hull KR meanwhile have injuries of their own but importantly the key players like Michael Dobson, Ben Galea and Clint Newton have all been available and have stood up to the mark. I have been very impressed with Rovers, especially their defensive game. With Hull's disjointed attack and Rovers' strong defence everything points to a low scoring arm wrestle and it's a view I share. If there is to be one team running away with it I'd take Rovers and I actually have them as favourites in my book. The temptation would be to take them with the 2pt handicap and that, to me, is a worthwhile play but I feel there is a better option with the spread companies. I see a low scoring game with Rovers having the edge and therefore I feel that a sell of Hull points @ 23 offers limited risk. Leeds only crossed the whitewash once last week at Craven Park and a similar result would be nice tonight though there's plenty of fat in the quote to leak another couple. I really can't see much potential downside to this bet and they are the sort of spread bets I like. The slight concern is that teams who play Leeds tend to drop off the next week; St.Helens lost versus Catalan and Crusaders were routed by Wakefield recently. However, I believe with this being such an important fixture for both clubs that the Rovers drop off will come a week later.
 
Picks:

Sell Hull pts @ 23 for 0.3pts with SportingIndex
 
Hull KR +2 1pt @ 2 with Bet365
 
The Man