Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Super League clash between Hull FC and St Helens, including predictions, team news and form guides.
Five days on from meeting in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup, Hull FC and St Helens will renew hostilities once again at the MKM Stadium on Thursday night.
Saints were victorious on the same ground on Saturday, running out 32-18 winners to progress to the semi-finals of the cup.
Match preview
Round 16 of the Super League season gets underway with two familiar foes facing off for the second time in just five days.
Hull ended up on the losing side last weekend to see their hopes of a first Challenge Cup title since 2017 go up in smoke, but they will have been encouraged by many aspects of their performance.
Josh Griffin’s sending-off for questioning the integrity of an official after the half-time buzzer meant that the hosts had to play the entire second half with 12 men, yet they still managed to hold their own against the defending Super League and world champions until the closing stages.
St Helens did pull away with a late flurry, but as long as they can keep it 13 against 13 this week, Hull boss Tony Smith will feel confident that they can enjoy a better result on Thursday.
The Black and Whites have won their last two games at the MKM Stadium and will be further boosted by the return of Jake Clifford for this contest.
However, they have now only won one of their last four matches in all competitions, including a 28-16 defeat to in-form Leigh Centurions in their last Super League outing.
That has left them ninth in the table, six points off the playoff places and six points behind Thursday’s opponents St Helens, who have begun to find some consistent form after a slow start to the season.
Fresh from sealing an unprecedented fourth successive Super League title – and travelling Down Under to make history in the World Club Challenge Cup final – the Saints suffered an underwhelming start to life under new boss Paul Wellens.
However, they go into Thursday’s game on a six-match winning streak across all competitions – a run which stretches back to their defeat at Catalans Dragons at the start of May.
St Helens now have a Challenge Cup semi-final against Leigh to look forward to next month, but before then there are four Super League games to focus on, including back-to-back matches against the current top two Warrington Wolves and Catalans.
Wellens’s side are fifth in the standings and only four points off top spot, while they crucially have a game in hand over all of the teams around them too.
The Saints will arrive at the MKM Stadium confident of extending a superb run against Hull, which has seen them win the last 16 meetings between the two sides, including eight in a row away from home.
Hull FC form:
St Helens form:
Team News
St Helens have made four changes to the squad that lost against the same opposition at the weekend, with the suspended Griffin among those to miss out.
Tex Hoy and Scott Taylor both picked up injuries during Saturday’s match which will keep them out of this game, while Liam Sutcliffe is also out and Mitieli Vulikijapani remains sidelined through injury.
Clifford is the headline name to come back into the fold after missing out at the weekend due to head injury protocols.
Will Gardiner, Harvey Barron and Jamie Shaul also return to the 21-man squad for the contest.
Meanwhile, St Helens will be without Tommy Makinson for this match after he picked up a hamstring injury on Saturday, while Mark Percival is following head injury protocols and is therefore unavailable.
That duo will be replaced by Ben Davies and Wes Bruines in the 21-man squad for Thursday’s match.
Hull FC squad: 2. Adam Swift, 3. Carlos Tuimavave, 5. Darnell McIntosh, 6. Jake Trueman, 7. Jake Clifford, 8. Ligi Sao, 9. Danny Houghton, 10. Chris Satae, 11. Andre Savelio, 12. Jordan Lane, 13. Brad Fash, 14. Joe Lovodua, 15. Joe Cator, 17. Cam Scott, 19. Ben McNamara, 20. Jack Brown, 25. Davy Litten, 26. Harvey Barron, 27. Will Gardiner, 29. Jamie Shaul, 33. Brad Dwyer
St Helens squad: 1. Jack Welsby, 3. Will Hopoate, 5. Jon Bennison, 6. Jonny Lomax, 7. Lewis Dodd, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 12. Joe Batchelor, 13. Morgan Knowles, 14. Joey Lussick, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Agnatius Paasi, 19. James Bell, 21. Ben Davies, 23. Konrad Hurrell, 25. Tee Ritson, 30. George Delaney, 34. Wes Bruines
We say: Hull FC 16-24 St Helens
St Helens are the form team heading into this match and are beginning to show the type of form which illustrates exactly why they are the only team to be crowned Super League champions four years in a row.
Their record against Hull FC is also formidable so, while the hosts have reasons to be optimistic if they can keep their full complement on the field, we are backing St Helens to come out on top yet again.
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