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Rugby League: Super League - Round 2


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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2 Some very tasty handicaps there. Leeds -2 Wakefield +14!!!:nana Cas +36 Wigan were relatively poor last year and conceded 30 points last weekend to UTC. To have them virtually going off scratch against Leeds is IMO ludicrous. Wakefield put up a great show against Bradford last week and were a tad unlucky by all accounts. Betham is the man to lead from the front for us and by the sounds of it has added the steel and determination that we lost last year after selling Ellis (estimates that he put 50 tackles in last weekend:eek) The man is a machine. We have one of the fastest set of backs in super league with Whittle, White and Tadulala and one of the best half-back pairings around in Obst and Jeffries, so much so it's hard to see Rooney slotting straight back in when he's over his injury. Fair enough Hull ran in a hatful of tries against Cas (including one from Domic who'll be guaranteed a cracking reception at BV as he's still very well thought of) but I expect Wakefield to cover the handicap and even sneak a win. Onto Cas. Poor display last week. Lots of penalties conceded, poor fitness levels and it looks like they haven't gelled yet. Having said that 36 is a huge handicap to beat regardless of who you are playing and it will only take a couple of tries (consolation tries even when the game is over) to make this handicap very difficult to overcome.

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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2

Wakefield put up a great show against Bradford last week and were a tad unlucky by all accounts. Betham is the man to lead from the front for us and by the sounds of it has added the steel and determination that we lost last year after selling Ellis (estimates that he put 50 tackles in last weekend:eek) The man is a machine.
I have heard alot of good things about this guy Betham, seems the natural replacement for Ellis, something which the cats didnt do last year. I like the core of players at Wakefield, not too different from the 2004 squad (Jefferies, Rooney, Tadulala, Solomona & Korkidas) Wakefield to win the match maybe @ 5.50
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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2

I have heard alot of good things about this guy Betham, seems the natural replacement for Ellis, something which the cats didnt do last year. I like the core of players at Wakefield, not too different from the 2004 squad (Jefferies, Rooney, Tadulala, Solomona & Korkidas) Wakefield to win the match maybe @ 5.50
5.5 is waaaay too big. I'd price this up at the minute as 1.72/2.38 with a handicap of about +6-8. I'm impressed with what the Wakefield board have achieved (fcuk me that's something you don't hear everyday:eek) in managing to keep hold of that core of players, even after last years bizarre debacle. There were a few things wrong last year: trainer was poor, morale was (for reasons unknown to the majority of us) poor, defence was strangely absent,the wrong man was picked as captain and there was no squad improvement from the previous year. All that seems to have been corrected this year and IMo we'll be pushing for the play-offs again. Which we rightly should given the players you mentioned, Solomona would walk into any SL side and a fair few NRL ones.
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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2 I think the Leeds bet looks like a cracker, can only find -4 though? I'd like to see the price for Calderwood to score at anytime (will it be around evens?) Didn't score last week and might come back to haunt his old club ;) Also that's a big score for Saints to cover

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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2 Any thoughts on this market? :dude

Top points scorer for Round 2 by Skybet
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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2 Thought I would add Ian Millward's (not mine) predictions for this weeks Super League....taken from sportinglife. Salford v Catalans Dragons We saw last week that the Dragons have a very strong pack of forwards and they generate tremendous go-forward for their side. On top of that Stacey Jones is a key player at half-back and his kicking game against Wigan was outstanding. That is an area where they can get on top of Salford. The City Reds will be over the moon after their win over Warrington, where they did everything right. The test for them is can they control the ball and have the same high completion rate this week? The Catalans forwards will cause Salford problems and it will be interesting to see how they travel for their first away game. I take them to win the game though and continue their fairytale start to life in Super League. St Helens v Castleford This must be a scary prospect for Castleford with St Helens welcoming back Paul Sculthorpe and Vinnie Anderson. The Tigers have a big pack of forwards but lack direction at half-back at present and look a little vulnerable in the backs. I can see nothing other than a big St Helens win. Bradford v Harlequins The London side have found Odsal a happy hunting ground in recent years and they will be desperate to bounce back from their opening day defeat to St Helens. I expected them to go close to winning that one but they were swept aside and coach Tony Rea apologised to the fans for the display. We must give them another opportunity though. Bradford are having their third tough game in a row and Harlequins, with improvement from next week, have to be the pick with a start of around 24 points. Huddersfield v Warrington The key here is the side Warrington are able to field. They have doubts over back-row forward Rob Parker while props Chris Leikvoll and Paul Rauhihi are also struggling. If all three are out you have to expect Huddersfield to win - especially as they played well in defeat at Leeds last week. They defended well and scored some enterprising tries at Headingley. With home advantage they can win this one. Hull v Wakefield The Wildcats were outstanding when going down 20-14 to Bradford last week but I was very impressed with Hull in their victory at Castleford. I thought a couple of their players may be a little under-done but they came out and played extremely well. They can win this one and cover all areas as I expect them to finish the stronger, and they have a bit more quality in the backs. Ian Millward was talking to Dave Ord

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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2

Any thoughts on this market? :dude
Top points scorer for Round 2 by Skybet
Interesting market Punto....and one where there may be value.... Unfortunately this week its the regular season favs against the wooden spoon favs, so it is pretty difficult to predict anyone else beating the Saints score, who should be scoring 40+pts this week.
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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2 2 bets for me at the minute this weekend. Both the televised matches as it happens! 10pts Leeds (-2) to beat Wigan 10/11 VC Wigan are usually a tough nut to crack but they are a very young team at the minute and lacking a bit of experience in certain areas. Leeds are fairly strong all over the park and will come on for the run last weekend. I think Leeds will win and I think they'll cover the 2 pts without too much trouble. 10pts Bradford (-14) to beat Harlequins 10/11 Blue Square Bradford have a notoriously nasty habit (speaking as a Quins fan!) of running up cricket scores on us! By all acounts we were awful against Saints last week and Tony Rea apologised to the fans for the poor performance but traditionally our away form is dismal. The Bulls have Vainikolo back in their squad for this too and I anticipate another big loss for Harlequins.

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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2

Thought I would add Ian Millward's (not mine) predictions for this weeks Super League....taken from sportinglife. Bradford v Harlequins The London side have found Odsal a happy hunting ground in recent years and they will be desperate to bounce back from their opening day defeat to St Helens. I expected them to go close to winning that one but they were swept aside and coach Tony Rea apologised to the fans for the display. We must give them another opportunity though. Bradford are having their third tough game in a row and Harlequins, with improvement from next week, have to be the pick with a start of around 24 points. Ian Millward was talking to Dave Ord
I have to say I have stopped taking any notice of what Ian Millward says in his column mainly due to the fact whenever I go with him I lose :lol . I now find that the best prediction he gives is the one involving his own side when he doesn't in fact say anything about that particular game :rollin. However those of you who do take his advice on board may want to find out what he's been smoking this week because he's surpassed himself in this weeks column. According to Ian "The London side have found Odsal a happy hunting ground in recent years." Well I've taken the time to find out how true this is by collecting all the results between the 2 sides at Odsal in the Super League era. Judge for yourselves. Bradford's score 1st. 1996 --> 31-24 1997 --> 19-14 1998 --> 17-14 1999 --> 74-12 2000 --> 32-12 2001 --> 24-6 2002 --> 22-12 2002 --> 46-14 2003 --> 12-22 2004 --> 44-16 2004 --> 60-18 2005 --> 48-22 2005 --> 44-22 (1st round of playoffs.) Now if that's a happy hunting ground then I think I've just worked out why Wigan have lost so many games under his stewardship!! As you can see that's 1 London win at Odsal in the Super League era. Interestingly the handicap bet that I put up earlier would have been covered in not only the last 4 meetings but 5 of the last 6 meetings and 8 of the 13 overall. Mr Millward also claims we have a 24pt start. Forget that, I've checked and the biggest around is 18.5pts.
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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2

Any thoughts on this market? :dude
Top points scorer for Round 2 by Skybet
I tell you what Punto, the more I look into it the more I start to like that 9/2 on Bradford. Their overall average points score against us at Odsal in Super League is 36.4pts. Now I'm not entirely sure when the Vainikolo era at Bradford began but he was definately there in 2004 and since then Bradford's average at Odsal vs London has been 49pts. Now Saints should beat Castleford and score a few points in the process but if Bradford play to their average are Saints really 8/11 to score 50pts+? Hmm I'll have a think but I'm very tempted.
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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2 Salford City Reds vs Les Catalans (+4/6pts) The two surprise teams of Round 1 do battle tonight. Les Catalans were gutsy last week against Wigan and were worthy winners. However tonight they play their first Super League game on foreign soil and perhaps one of the most difficult grounds to play at, the Willows. The pitch is very narrow and doesn’t encourage open back play, the in-goal area is one of the shortest in Super League (Stacey Jones will have to step his kicking game up a gear), not to mention a noisy and intense atmosphere around the ground.

Honeymoon over for Les Catalans as I think Salford will make it two wins from two, and should cover the 4pt handicap some firms have set. However if Les Catalans are allowed to dictate the pace of the game and turn it into a forwards battle they may come close. Decided to go for Salford...woooo...

Salford -4pts various (1pt) Prediction – (Salford win by 8/10pts)

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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2 My bets for this weekend: Salford -4 (1.9 willhill) 3pts Castleford +36 (1.9 bet365) 2pts Leeds -2 (1.9 Coral) 10pts Huddersfield -2 (1.9 bet365) 3pts Wakefield +16 (1.9 bet365) 3pts Total staked: 21pts I've added Salford, as I think last weeks UTC result was as much to do with home advantage and a poor Wigan side as the quality of their side. I've also added Shudds because Warrington are severely depleted through injuries and will find it very difficult untilo they approach anything like full strength.

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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2

My bets for this weekend: Salford -4 (1.9 willhill) 3pts Castleford +36 (1.9 bet365) 2pts Leeds -2 (1.9 Coral) 10pts Huddersfield -2 (1.9 bet365) 3pts Wakefield +16 (1.9 bet365) 3pts Total staked: 21pts I've added Salford, as I think last weeks UTC result was as much to do with home advantage and a poor Wigan side as the quality of their side. I've also added Shudds because Warrington are severely depleted through injuries and will find it very difficult untilo they approach anything like full strength.
Good luck Paul :hope Agree with you on all of them, except Castleford.... My bets for this week are going to be Huddersfield & Wakefield.
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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2 St Helens vs Castleford Tigers (+32/36pts)

Definite miss-match tonight and the handicap reflects that. The Saints were impressive winners last week over Harlequins (potential banana skin game), whilst Castleford were soundly beaten by a well drilled Hull side. I was particularly concerned with the Tigers back play, their full back looked completely out of his depth. Saints are almost at full strength with V Anderson and captain P Sculthorpe making their comebacks (perfect game to return).

I do expect the Tigers to improve over the coming weeks, but tonight, Saints should run riot and knock up a Zimbabwean cricket score. To be honest, I think Castleford will struggle to actually register a score, therefore I see Saints winning this by a margin of around 40 points.

However, I am not going to put my money where my mouth is with this one, generally speaking I tend not to bet on such big handicaps. One note for concern is, Saints have a massive game against Leeds the following week, so they may & probably should take things a little easier than normal.

No bet

Prediction – (Saints win by 38/40pts)

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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2 Wigan Warriors vs Leeds Rhinos (-2/4pts)

Well I was completely wrong about Wigan last week, but Im sure I wasnt alone. Their discipline, defence, handling and attack were all below average. As mentionned by Paul, I think Wigan flattered Les Catalans last week, concededing 38 ponits.

The statistics surrounding the game also don’t read well for the Warriors. The Rhinos have won there on four of their last eight visits to the JJB. They began Super League XI in encouraging style as they overcame the Giants 20-12 at Headingley, welcoming Jamie Peacock, Scott Donald and Shane Millard into their line-up. With Danny McGuire opening his try count for the season, the omens are good for Leeds, as McGuire has scored twelve tries in twelve matches against Wigan, failing to score against them on only two occasions.

Millward would have spent time working the defensive lapses from last week but I still expect Leeds to come away with 2 points tonight.

Leeds -2pts @ VC (1pt)

Prediction – Leeds win by 10/12pts

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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2

2 bets for me at the minute this weekend. Both the televised matches as it happens! 10pts Leeds (-2) to beat Wigan 10/11 VC Wigan are usually a tough nut to crack but they are a very young team at the minute and lacking a bit of experience in certain areas. Leeds are fairly strong all over the park and will come on for the run last weekend. I think Leeds will win and I think they'll cover the 2 pts without too much trouble. 10pts Bradford (-14) to beat Harlequins 10/11 Blue Square Bradford have a notoriously nasty habit (speaking as a Quins fan!) of running up cricket scores on us! By all acounts we were awful against Saints last week and Tony Rea apologised to the fans for the poor performance but traditionally our away form is dismal. The Bulls have Vainikolo back in their squad for this too and I anticipate another big loss for Harlequins.
Agree with both of these the JJb is usually a good place for Leeds. Looking at both opening performances of Bradford and Harlequins I can see Bradford winning this one by at least 14 points
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Re: Rugby League: Super League - Round 2 Oh dear, there wont be a dry eye in PL if Leeds dont do the business tonight..... Dont want to worry you guys......but even Stevo is with us on this :unsure Gulp!!

WIGAN WOBBLES WILL LEAD TO A LEEDS WIN Friday 17th February 2006
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Fixtures/Results Table Salford v Catalans Saints v C'ford Wigan v Leeds Bulls v Harlequins Giants v Wolves Hull FC v Wildcats Betting

WIGAN WARRIORS v LEEDS RHINOS

Engage Super League XI ROUND TWO Live on Sky Sports 1 7.30pm, February 17 (KO 8pm)

If there's any side in Super League that can put pressure on itself, then it is Wigan Warriors - and that is exactly what we saw in Perpignan last weekend. Take nothing away from the Catalans Dragons, no-one will enjoy their trip to the South of France on the field at least, but in all honesty, Wigan should have won. Sean O'Loughlin and Danny Orr both dropped the ball over the line and had they not made those mistakes, I do think Ian Millward's men would have won. But they didn't and when this current Wigan side go in front, you cannot be certain they are going to kill the game off as was always the case. There were a few of their players that didn't come up to scratch, but I would be surprised if anyone around the JJB has been panicking this week. They can't afford to, simple as that. They know they are playing a top, top side in Leeds who, along with St Helens, have to be favourites to be the champions this year. What Wigan need when they run out in front of their own fans is a bit of composure. They do have plenty of youngsters in their ranks and it will take O'Loughlin time to find his feet as skipper. You can be as influential or lead by example as much as you want, but you have to learn the ropes and it will take the new Wigan skipper some time.
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O'Loughlin: tough job
Captaincy can affect players, especially the stars of the team. O'Loughlin got off to bad start last week with the forward pass straight from kick-off and he will be desperate to make sure he doesn't do that again. But for all that, Wigan were not a million miles away. I thought Millward's tactics were spot-on last week. They saw the Dragons were slow at the first and second markers and for a while Wayne Godwin and Mickey Higham took advantage and they put points on the board. It is a shame they lost Godwin and will miss him again this week, because that ability to interchange their half-backs will be crucial. So, once again it is time for Dennis Moran to stand up and be counted. I said it at the end of last season when Wigan were pitching the kids in, but now he has to take more responsibility and perhaps guide O'Loughlin through his first few weeks. If Wigan don't improve in those areas they will find themselves in trouble, because it looks like business as usual from this Leeds side. Yes Marc Calderwood - what chance him coming back to haunt his old club? - and Marcus Bai have gone, but there is still so much strike power in Tony Smith's side it is frightening. Jamie Peacock is still settling in, but he is a solid workhorse and having a prop that is more than willing to put in the hard graft for the full 80 minutes will only make them stronger. Whatever Tony Smith and the club say, I still maintain they made a mistake last season pressing Keith Senior into the Challenge Cup final when he wasn't fully fit and never recovered from it.
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McGuire: full pelt
But now? He is fit, Danny Maguire is at full pelt and Rob Borrow just gets better and better and if Chris Ashton is a talent to behold at full-back for Wigan, then Lee Smith on the Leeds wing has to have an eye on the autumn Tri-Nations down under, seeing as Great Britain are not exactly blessed with wingers. Traditionally, Leeds do not fare well in Wigan, and whatever happens on Friday night, this is going to be close. Everyone expected Wigan to turn over the new boys and if we're honest we all thought Leeds would steamroller Huddersfield at Headingley, but neither happened, so their will be some jitters around. This will be won by the side that keeps its cool and by the coach who lets his players go out and do their own thing.
STEVO SAYS...
1196193.jpgAway win - The stats might disagree and it is funny how these things ring true in sport, but I fancy Leeds to edge this one. It promises to be a great game for the fans at the JJB and on Sky Sports, and you won't be able to take your eyes off this for a minute. Yes, there are some star names on either side, but Super League is not about what's on the team-sheet, it's what happens when they cross that white line and I just think that little extra freedom and confidence will see Leeds nick it.
Is Stevo spot on? Leeds to win is 13/8 with Sky Bet! Click here for full odds
STEVO'S STAR MAN
1377702.jpgKevin Sinfield (Leeds Rhinos) - I think this is the season we have to point the finger and Kevin and demand more. He is a proven talent at club level, but for some unknown reason he hasn't been able to do it for Great Britain and step up to that next level. Some players just need a rocket up their backside to really produce their best and for me, that is Sinfield. I would love Tony Smith to really get hold of him this year because he really has what it takes to be a regular world-class performer. But he needs that bite, that extra controlled aggression, and in games like this he needs to be cock o'the roost. He will be a better player and a better captain if he can find that little edge to his game.
Is Stevo spot on? Sinfield first try-scorer is 20/1 with Sky Bet! Click here for full odds
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