Super League betting: Wolves to bite back

Lee Briers should be working his way back to full fitness

Magic weekend means a feast of live action for punters to get their teeth stuck into, and our Rugby League correspondent hopes to unearth the best value bets amongst the seven games over the course of the weekend.

St Helens vs Warrington Wolves

This looks the pick of Saturday's games and it also provides us with what looks to be the bet of the weekend. Saints may have got back on track with a good win against Leeds at Headingley on Monday, but they have had just five days to recover, whilst Warrington haven't played since a week last Friday.

Leeds were guilty of letting Saints back into a game that probably should have been over in the first half on Monday, the absence of Jamie Peacock and Carl Ablett playing a big part, whilst an injury to Brett Delaney didn't help.

Paul Wellens was excellent at full back for Nathan Brown's men, but he has to sit this one out, meaning yet another reshuffle will be required. Wire on the other hand have their star men gradually getting minutes under their belts, and will be keen to bounce back to a shock defeat against Hull.

The difference in turnaround and the absence of Paul Wellens looks a massive negative against St Helens chances, and Wire -8.5 rates as the bet of the Magic weekend.

Recommended bets

Warrington -8.5 points at 1.91

Bradford Bulls vs Huddersfield Giants

Bradford's most impressive performance of the season came when beating the Giants 43-18 away from home back in March, but their fortunes have changed somewhat since that period, and the pitfalls of having a shallow squad have begun to show over recent weeks.

The Giants have been in a rich vein of form of late, and it was impressive that they were able to back up their Challenge Cup win over Leeds with a 36-22 win at Widnes last week.

Huddersfield's depth is much greater than the Bulls and they are sure to be focused on gaining revenge for what they saw to be an embarrassing defeat at the John Smiths stadium.
Huddersfield have to give up just 8.5 points and look a good bet to do so.

Recommended bets

Huddersfield -8.5 points at 1.91