Challenge Cup Quarter Finals Preview

The Challenge Cup quarter-finals get underway Friday night as Sheffield take on the London Broncos in the opener. The Eagles will fancy their changes of springing the upset against the Broncos as they sit top of the Championship while their opponents sit bottom of the Super League. Sheffield are used to winning while you have to go back to Round 13 (we are currently on Round 22) for the last time the Broncos won a Super League game. Sheffield have a history of shocks producing on the of the biggest in Rugby League history when they defeated Wigan to win the Challenge Cup on May 2nd 1998. The man of the match that day was current coach Mark Ashton and he wil have his players up for this. Make your main bet Sheffield to cover the handicap with a 14 point start (10/11-GENERAL) and then have a little interest on the Eagles to win the match outright at 15/4 (888 SPORT/unibet).

The Saturday game is between Catalan who sit fifth in Super League and Hull who sit in eighth. These two sides have met twice this season with the Dragons win both including a comfortable 30-4 at their own ground. The defeat marked a start of a four game losing streak for Hull though they will be boosted by the news that captain Gareth Ellis is free to play in the game. Catalan are the 4/7 (SKYBET/ladbrokes) favourites while Hull can be backed at 7/4 (STAN JAMES/888 SPORT.)

The bet here could be in the anytime tryscorer market where Morgan Escare is 11/10 (SKYBET) which looks value on a player who already has 13 tries this season including two in his last game.

The Sunday game is probably the pick of all the last eight games as it pits Warrington against Huddersfield. The Giants are in great form winning six of their last seven and sit second in the Super League one place and one point ahead of the Wolves in third. Bookmakers favour the home side with Warrington a 4/9 (GENERAL) chance for victory while Huddersfield are 39/19 (888 SPORT/unibet). This looks a tough game to call though the head-to-head record this season favours Warrington won the home game 28-2 in round eight before following that up with a victory in round 14 with a 34-12 triumph at Huddersfield. The best bet in this game could be in siding with Trent Waterhouse who is 5/2 (CORAL) in the anytime tryscorer market. He has grabbed five this season though two of these came against the Giants and he looks value to go over again.

The final game is on Monday evening and is between Wigan and Widnes. The Warriors sit top of the Super League table and are the 11/8 (GENERAL) favourites to win the Challenge Cup. Wigan are as short as 1/10 (888 SPORT) to see off the Vikings who sit some ten places beneath them in 11th. These two sides met recently in round 18 in Widnes and the game was a close one wih Wigan winning by just one point. The bet here could be in the handicap market where I will be siding with Widnes +22 with SKYBET who are offering evens on this market. As stated before it was close when these sides last met out and Wigan have not won any of their last six by a margin bigger than 13 points.

BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: Sheffield Eagles on handicap +14 v London Broncos, 10/11 (GENERAL)
SILVER: Widnes Vikings on handicap +22 v Wigan Warriors, evens (SKYBET)
BRONZE: Sheffield Eagles to beat London Broncos, 15/4 (888 SPORT/unibet)

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12/07/2013     © Frixo 2024