Super League Rivals Round Preview: Tigers can rumble Rhinos in the Jungle

In what is somewhat of a precursor to the infamous Magic Weekend, Super League’s Rivals Round is back this week and as always, it throws up some mouth-watering fixtures.

There are a host of local derbies and long-lasting rivalries to sink your teeth into from Thursday evening all the way through to Sunday afternoon.

We take a look at two of the eye-catching clashes below.

Castleford Tigers v Leeds Rhinos, Thursday 20:00

2024 certainly hasn’t been full of positives for the Castleford Tigers and following a defeat in Perpignan, albeit with a slightly improved performance, they still have 0 points to their name and only sit above London Broncos on points difference.

The future is the talk of Castleford at the moment with plans for improvement apparently laid out, so that gives the Fords faithful reason to stay behind their side, something which they seem to be able to do better than most when the times get tough.

A win at Batley last weekend was their first of the season and saw them through to the quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup. The return of former Man of Steel Paul McShane and the prospect of a home win over bitter rivals Leeds Rhinos being their first of the season will certainly have the Cas fans up for this one.

The outlook is much brighter in Headingly with Leeds having one of the strongest squads in Super League this year and are expecting to challenge for a spot at Old Trafford come the end of the season. With three wins and two losses the Rhinos haven’t flown out the blocks but are performing well enough as Ash Handley continues to impress with seven tries to his name.

At 15/4 the Tigers appear to have a mountain to climb. However, the same was said last season when they defeated Leeds both at Wheldon Road and Magic Weekend last season and they will be more than up for this one. At 1/5 there is little to no value in picking a Rhinos win. With the Cas fans certain to be in good voice, roaring the Tigers on from the first whistle, we’ve picked out Castleford to score over 10.5 points in the 1st half as the value play at 3/1.

St Helens v Wigan Warriors, Friday 15:00

All eyes will be on Merseyside as two of the Super League’s titans go head-to-head in what could potentially be an early title decider.

Wigan remain undefeated having only played four matches so far this season, but head to St Helens as the 5/4 underdogs. As ever, Liam Marshall has been at the forefront of their success, touching down six times already this season and is 7/4 to score anytime.

St Helens sit level with Wigan but do have a defeat to their name, although that came about as a result of a relatively early red card so can be overlooked. As such they are 13/20 favourites to continue their flying start to the 2024 season on their home patch.

This could well be a cagey affair with neither side wanting to lose early ground on their local and title rivals, but equally both sides have enough attacking quality to put a serious number of points on the board. We fancy the Saints’ class to prevail in front of a home crowd, with Tommy Makinson to score and St Helens to win the value pick at 5/2.