Huddersfield Giants vs Warrington Wolves Predictions: The Giants can cause an upset

Opportunity knocks for Huddersfield and Warrington as the pair lock horns for a place in the Betfred Challenge Cup final on Sunday (BBC Two, 15:15), with Sam Burgess and his in-form Wolves big favourites to reach Wembley for the first time in five years.

The Giants came up just short to Wigan in the showpiece game at Tottenham two years ago and are fired up under Ian Watson to book a first trip to Wembley since 2009.

Huddersfield Giants vs Warrington Wolves Odds

The Giants are 15/8 to win in 80 minutes, giving them a 34.8% chance of victory. The Wolves are priced at 4/9, which gives them an implied probability of 69.2%. The draw can be backed at 20/1 (4.8%).

Team News

Huddersfield have their prolific winger Adam Swift back in the mix after he sat out last weekend’s defeat to Wigan that saw top try scorer rival Liam Marshall leapfrog him in the charts with a hat-trick.

Veteran prop Chris Hill though is still not ready to return so misses out on a big date with his former club, while back-row forward Jack Murchie is also named in the squad.

Warrington make one change to their squad from last week’s win over Hull KR. Young centre Connor Wrench is included after recovering from an ankle injury that has kept him sidelined for the last three games, so it is likely to be either Wrench or Rodrick Tai at right centre. PNG star Tai has started the last two games and could yet keep his place. The man to make way is forward Adam Holroyd.

The Wolves pack is expected to be formidable, with Paul Vaughan, Ben Currie and Zane Musgrove all having missed the semi-final win over St Helens but back available.

Handicap 2-way Alternative 2 Huddersfield Giants -1.5 @ 13/8

Warrington are 4/9 favourites with Betfred to win this match and rightly so. They have been flying in their first season under Great Britain legend Burgess and the way they dispatched the mighty Saints 31-8 away from home in the last eight, and then fellow semi-finalists Hull KR last week in Super League points to Huddersfield having their work cut out this week.

A Wolves win will be the popular call, but I just have a strange feeling for Huddersfield. In between those two impressive performances, I watched Warrington a little clunky both in defeat at Salford and in a very narrow win at Leigh. Huddersfield missed Adam Swift badly last week in a humbling home loss to Wigan but they will have had one eye on this game, whether they admit to that or not.

Few will back the Giants given they are coming into face a powerful Warrington side off the back of three straight defeats, but I have a little more faith in Ian Watson and his men and expect this to be closer than many believe. This could well backfire but I am going to stick with my gut and back the underdogs to win a cracker and book a first Wembley final since losing to Warrington 25-16 in 2009.

If they manage it, it will be by the tightest of margins.

Adam Swift anytime tryscorer @ 1/1

Swift wasn’t risked last week and the Giants missed him. He has been unstoppable this season, and fans of Liam Marshall may disagree but I have Swift as the top winger in Super League right now. If Huddersfield win this Cup tie, then Swift  - provided he is fit to play - will be amongst the headlines. When he plays, he scores at the moment – it is almost that simple.

If you fancy Swift to score the first try then that is an enticing 6/1 chance, or you could even go Double Delight, by backing Swift to score the first try at 6/1 we will then double those odds if he scores a subsequent try.

If your player scores the first try of the match, and then goes on to score another, we'll DOUBLE your first tryscorer scorer price!

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