SL Preview: St Helens v Hull KR (Fri)

Hull KR will be looking to defeat St Helens for a third time this season when the two sides meet at Langtree Park on Friday.

Saints however have shown an upturn in form recently and their 19-man squad includes the recalled Stuart Howarth and Adam Swift. Jordan Hand and Luke Thompson are the pair to make way for Nathan Brown’s men as they look for a third consecutive Super League win.

KR coach Craig Sandercock makes only one change from the squad that travelled to Catalan last weekend, as Lincoln Withers comes in for Jason Netherton who has been ruled out due to illness.

St Helens 19-man squad: Wellens, Turner, Meli, Hohaia, Lomax, Roby, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Puletua, Wilkin, Manu, Laffranchi, Clough, Jones, Makinson, Greenwood, Walmsley, Swift, Howarth, O’Brien.

Hull KR 19-man squad: Eden, Hall, Gleeson, D. Hodgson, Burns, Dobson, Tuimavave, J. Hodgson, Mika, Paterson, Lovegrove, Withers, Horne, Walker, Salter, Cox, Carlile, Paea, Brown.

Prediction: Saints to continue their recent revival with a hard-fought victory.

Stats:

While Rovers have already won the reverse of this fixture, and knocked Saints out of the Challenge Cup this season, they have only beaten St Helens once away from home in the Super League era – a dramatic 20-19 win in 2009.

Super League summary:

Hull KR won 6

St Helens won 7

1 draw

Hull KR highest score: 28-24 (H, 2010) (Widest margin: 26-10, H, 2009)

St Helens highest score: 68-12 (H, 2010) (also widest margin)