Super League: St Helens favourites against Hull FC in Super 8s

St Helens are overwhelmingly odds-on at 1/6 with Coral against Hull FC in the second round of the Super 8s, despite both teams losing last time out.

Following their defeat against Catalans, Saints head coach Keiron Cunningham branded his side ‘dumb’ and will be looking for a response from his players as they welcome Hull FC to Langtree Park.

“I thought the best team won. We had plenty of opportunities but we were really dumb, my halves and hookers were really dumb, especially when they went down to 12 men,” Cunningham said.

“We got out-enthused. You get what you deserve in rugby league and we got what we deserved. Big Alex [Walmsley] did well, so did Greg Richards and Lee Greenwood – but that was about it.”

The above trio are 5/1, 6/1 and 11/8 to score respectively in the anytime market, while prolific winger Adam Swift is 7/1 to cross first.

Speaking about the dismissal of centre Ben Pomeroy against the French outfit, Cunningham continued: “It’s a tough one, if it was my player I would be disappointed (with the decision), but a shoulder barge is a shoulder barge and it’s a banned tackle isn’t it?

“There was contact with the head so you can understand the referee’s decision. There were plenty of things that went against me tonight but I don’t want to get into officials, last time I came over and got into officials, it ended up costing me a lot of money. It was a very strange game.”

Hull, meanwhile, beat the Saints at Langtree Park in April, running out 28-20 winners, with Jamie Shaul crossing twice and is subsequently 5/4 in the anytime market.

However, coach Lee Radford has put pressure on two youngsters ahead of the match, with Jack Downs and Brad Fash (both 5/1 anytime) set to play a part.

The selections of [Brad] and [Jack] for this week have been rewards for not just their performances in the under-19s, but also how they are as blokes,” Radford said.

“They are great professionals, and as a coach it is good to reward solid hard graft. In training they have already impressed,” he continued, but we just now need to see them blossom at that next level.”

Coral’s top tip: Shaul anytime @ 5/4