Super League Betting: Away wins?

Super League / Graham Cunningham / 29 July 2010 / Leave a Comment

Pat Richards - Wigan's Man of Steel?

"Wigan [2.04] ought to be marginal favourites to topple Leeds [1.95] in Friday night's Headingley showdown."

Never mind John, Paul, George and Ringo, the only Fab Four who matter to rugby fans this weekend are Wigan, Leeds, Warrington and St Helens. The elite of the Super League square off in two thunderous clashes on Friday and Saturday and Graham Cunningham feels the away teams are the ones to side with.

The menu for this weekend's live Super League action on Sky could hardly be more tempting.

It's Leeds at home to Wigan on Friday night (20.00) followed by Warrington at home to St Helens on Saturday (18.45) and some very important factors need to be taken into account in order to chisel out the best punting angles.

As ever, the key points relate to form, fitness, future targets and the way the line makers have assessed the games. Taking all four points into account, I reckon that Wigan and Saints are the two teams to be with.

To my mind, Wigan ought to be marginal favourites to topple Leeds in Friday's Headingley showdown and the fact that they are set to receive a couple of points with several firms is a bonus.

Granted, coach Michael Maguire will be absent for the second week running to attend to his sick father in Australia, but assistant Sean Wane seems equally adept at ramming home the importance of stonewall defence based on last week's crushing of Hull and once again the Warriors are very close to full strength.

Leeds moved into the top four for the first time in ages by beating Salford last week - and the return of livewire scrum half Rob Burrow will help their attacking options - but Wigan can go a long way to securing top spot by winning here.

The fact that they have no Challenge Cup semi-final to worry about next weekend can only help as they cross the Pennines and with the irrepressible Pat Richards marching on towards a well deserved Man of Steel award they can win outright in what has all the makings of one of the games of the season.

Much as it pains me to admit it, St Helens are shaking off some midseason lethargy and beginning to look a danger to all in the race for the Grand Final.

Clearly, it would be easy to trot out that old stat which dictates that Wire have only beaten their local rivals once during the Super League era, but there are two more factors which are equally pertinent here. First, Saints looked on their way back to peak form when rattling up 50 away to Wakefield last week. And second, with influential forwards like Keiron Cunningham, Chris Flannery and Jon Wilkin back in the fray they now look very well equipped to cope with Warrington's feisty front men.

Both sides will be fully aware that Saints can draw level with Wire with a win here. The handicappers are giving the away team four start - which looks well worth taking - but it might be worth a small interest in St Helens taking this outright, too.

The handicappers look to have done their work pretty well in the non-televised games this weekend and it's best to tread fairly carefully as a result. However, it might just pay to side with Castleford in receipt of around 12 points on their away trip to Hull KR on Sunday at 15.00.

Hull KR look assured of a top eight spot, but Cas need every point they can muster in order to secure their playoff place. Winning this one will be tough, but their recent form looks solid and a repeat of their recent best will give them bright prospects of staying within double figures.