he Rules:

• Each person predicts the results of every Super League match.
• Predicting the correct winner will get you 1 point.
• If the predictor’s scoreline has the same winning margin, then 4 points will be awarded (only if the predicted winning team is correct).
• Correctly predicting the exact score will win you an additional 5 points.
• Two bonus points will be awarded if the first try scorer is predicted correctly, whereas 1 point will be awarded if the selected player scores during the match.

Last Round’s Results:

• Bradford Bulls 12 – Wakefield Trinity 26 (Nathan – 1, Ian – 1)
• Huddersfield Giants 10 – Wigan Warriors 24 (Nathan – 1, Ian – 1)
• St Helens 32 – Catalans Dragons 18 (Nathan – 0, Ian – 2)
• Warrington Wolves 34 – Hull KR 12 (Nathan – 0, Ian – 1)
• Hull FC 22 – Leigh Leopards 32 (Nathan – 2, Ian – 1)
• Toulouse Olympique XIII 30 – York Knights 22 (Nathan – 6, Ian – 1)
• Castleford Tigers 36 – Leeds Rhinos 34 (Nathan – 1, Ian – 0)

Current Score: Nathan 155 – Ian 155

Ladies and gentlemen (and those who have yet to make up their minds¹), we have a tied game! Just in time for another Rivals Round, where the whole thing could go tits-up once more. Either way, I’ll bet Ian is sweating now!

Well, I wasn’t confident picking Rovers to win against Warrington last week, and I’m even less so this week. A part of me wanted to pick Hull to win as a double bluff, as they usually lose when I predict them to win, but I couldn’t stomach that, even if I didn’t mean it. In the end, I think this will come down to whoever is least worst, as opposed to who is best.

I think this match depends on the start of both teams as much as anything else. In recent weeks, the Airlie Birds have, at different times, shown that they can stack up points in double quick time, as evidenced by 16 points in nine minutes against Leigh among other games, and with a perceived lack of confidence for what seems quite a fragile Robins team, that could be what secures a first Hull Derby victory since 2023, but these things rarely go to plan in THIS game, and if the Black & Whites carry on hurting themselves with stupid penalties and set restarts, it could be another long evening at the office against their nearest and not so dearest.

Castleford will have the wind at their backs following their shock victory over Leeds yesterday, and Wakefield didn’t look convincing in their win over Bradford (for the first seventy minutes at least). However, I’m giving the edge to Wakey as I think home advantage will count for a lot in what I anticipate to be a closely fought contest. They will also have the extra motivation of closing the gap on Leeds at the top.

I do expect Ryan Carr’s team to make Trinity work much harder than they had to at Magic, but ultimately run out of steam. If Wakey can get off to a good start, it could be important to just establish who’s in charge, and they will want to play on their visitors’ psychological condition and not leave anything to chance because a confident Castkeford side can, and previously have, caused certain teams some unforeseen problems.

Saints may have gotten themselves back in the win column this past weekend, but they’re still a far cry from the powerhouse that previous Saints teams have been. Their injuries continue to mount, and despite Wigan also having quite a busy treatment room, they seem to be pulling through more thanks to their stellar youth academy. A routine Wigan win here, methinks.

After the Lord Mayor’s parade on Thursday night, we get the cleaning up act on Friday night with a repeat of the closing fixture from Magic, which went down to the final kick, but has none of the locality and sheer desperation of the one real, true derby match. This match hinges on the words of Matty Peet about Saints’ lack of character because Bill Leyland is not in their ranks now, but Jed Cartwright is. I still think it will be worth watching, and I expect the Challenge Cup winners to get over the top of their 2nd nearest opponents, but if you think it’ll have anything on proceedings at the MKM Stadium, you’re absolutely kidding yourself; that’s just the way it is.

Will Jim Lenihan’s side win another game this season? I expect so, but I don’t think it’ll be this weekend. The LNER Community Stadium has proven to be a tough ground to go to, and you would say that York have momentum on their side, despite a closely-fought defeat against Toulouse this past weekend. So, no, I don’t think Huddersfield get a win here, but good news for all you Giants fans: you play Hull FC next week, so all hope isn’t lost.

The Giants impressed me with their performance against Wigan, and we all know the effect that a trip to South Western France can have on any side, so I’m genuinely thinking Jim Lenihan could get his first victory at the LNER Community Stadium, but they will have to work very hard for it. I think Huddersfield need to be very physical; they have to bully the Knights because they do have a sizeable pack, and if they can create some momentum, they do have players who can hurt York, albeit that they have previously been misfiring most weeks, which could be the weakness that could also cost them this match.

The next fixture is one of two consecutive fixtures which I believe could go either way (three, in truth, including York-Huddersfield). Warrington showed an edge against Hull KR on Saturday that had been missing for a few weeks, but Leigh are starting to pull themselves together as the run-in to the play-offs comes into view. Once again, I’ve given the edge to the home team. The LSV is as difficult a ground as any to get a result from, and I think Sam Burgess’ men will leave the bus stop in Wigan disappointed.

These are two sides playing with plenty of confidence, and both are capable of scoring points. I am just fancying the Wolves to get over the top of the Leopards because they’re starting to really hit their straps now, they have a half back combination that are young and enthusiastic and they have strike talent from anywhere on the field, added to that, Leigh were certainly guilty of being caught out far too easily from a seemingly very comfortable position by a questionable Hull FC attack at the MKM Stadium, any repeat of that could see Warrington really pile the points up against them.

In the second of my two difficult fixtures, we have the French derby (Le Derby, perhaps?). TO have managed to put together quite the run of form in recent weeks, including a thrashing of the Catalans Dragons at French Magic, but I think Les Dracs are due a turnaround in fortunes sometime soon, and they will fancy getting revenge over their nearest neighbours. Lightning can’t strike twice, right?

Toulouse at home on current form must be one of, if not the most confident team in Super League right now as they go hunting another win against a team that they scored 60 points against just a few weeks ago. However, the Dragons do, as we all know, have some star names in their ranks who will be desperate to right those wrongs and show it was just a one-off; it could really be a very aggressive and creative treat, or by the same token, it could also be absolutely dreadful.

Leeds will not be in the mood to take any prisoners at the AMT Headingley on Sunday afternoon. After falling to an unexpected defeat at Castleford this week, Brad Arthur’s men will be on a mission to put that result behind them and make an example out of the Bradford Bulls. The Bulls, for their part, put up a spirited performance against Wakefield this past week, but I doubt they’ll get much chance to come close to their nearest rivals this week.

It’s certainly fair to say the team at the top of the table didn’t have everything their own way at Castleford, so I expect them to set about putting the Bulls away early at their home ground, but as shown at Magic, Kurt Haggerty’s side won’t exactly die wondering. This game does have the potential to be an absolute battle royal with two teams that like to score points, and it could be absolutely end-to-end, or it could be a one-way procession.

Nathan’s Picks:

• Hull FC 12 – Hull KR 26. First try scorer: James Batchelor
• Wakefield Trinity 22 – Castleford Tigers 10. First try scorer: Josh Rourke
• Wigan Warriors 32 – St Helens 12. First try scorer: Jack Farrimond
• York Knights 24 – Huddersfield Giants 12. First try scorer: Cody Hunter
• Leigh Leopards 28 – Warrington Wolves 10. First try scorer: David Armstrong
• Toulouse Olympique XIII 12 – Catalans Dragons 20. First try scorer: Charlie Staines
• Leeds Rhinos 36 – Bradford Bulls 4. First try scorer: Brodie Croft

Ian’s Picks:

• Hull FC 28 – Hull KR 14. First try scorer: Joe Batchelor
• Wakefield Trinity 30 – Castleford Tigers 12. First try scorer: Cameron Scott
• Wigan Warriors 30 – St Helens 18. First try scorer: Jake Wardle
• York Knights 18 – Huddersfield Giants 24. First try scorer: Niall Evalds
• Leigh Leopards 18 – Warrington Wolves 26. First try scorer: Josh Smith
• Toulouse Olympique XIII 32 – Catalans Dragons 18. First try scorer: Jake Shorrocks
• Leeds Rhinos 36 – Bradford Bulls 18. First try scorer: Jack Bird

Written by Nathan Major (Site editor & Hull KR fan) and Ian Judson (Site contributor & Hull FC fan)

1. Whoever can tell me what this is a quote from is in the very narrow Venn diagram with me between musical theatre fans and rugby league fans. ↩︎