Hull KR vs Hull FC Predictions: Robins should put neighbours to the sword

Having already nilled their local rivals on the opening night of the Betfred Super League season, much is expected of Hull Kingston Rovers as they host Hull FC for the traditional Good Friday derby at Sewell Group Craven Park (kick-off 12:30 GMT).

Willie Peters’ side have started to click back into gear over the last couple of weeks, while the Black and Whites from across the River Hull have shipped 50 points in each of their last two games. That all adds up to a one-sided look to our Hull KR vs Hull FC predictions…

Team news

Rovers are forced to make one change following their 40-0 thrashing of Salford Red Devils in the Challenge Cup, with Oliver Gildart missing out due to concussion protocols after suffering a head knock in the opening stages last week.

George King remains unavailable having pulled a hamstring against Huddersfield Giants a fortnight ago, but the good news is that Mikey Lewis returns after failing an HIA in the 24-12 win at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Tony Smith makes two changes to his Hull FC squad which was hammered 50-6 by the Giants in the Challenge Cup sixth round, with Harvey Barron sustaining a head injury and Charlie Severs heading off to the York Knights on loan.

In come Franklin Pele and Jack Ashworth following suspensions, but Brad Fash, Jake Trueman, Joe Cator, Mitieli Vulikijapani and Jack Walker remain unavailable.

Hull KR -22 (3-way handicap) @ EVS

Derbies, form books, yada yada yada. This is one match which will surely go to form given the relative positions of the two clubs right now.

Rovers are coming off their most complete performance of the season in that 40-point cup win over Salford, and they have their star half Lewis returning to the side. They served up a zero to the Red Devils last week to go with their 22-0 victory over their local rivals in round one.

And head coach Peters is insistent that tough defending remains the cornerstone of his side, even as the summer months and drier tracks approach, telling his pre-match press conference: “We’re a defence-focused team first, that’s what we pride ourselves in.

“I don’t want to sound cocky, but there’s no fluke in terms of the players holding other teams to zero. They work extremely hard at it, it’s something that we value. We’ve got our KPIs internally and a lot of it is based around our defence.”

With those words in mind, this could be another long afternoon for the visitors, who have conceded at least 22 points in every game so far this season, averaging 35 against per match.

Hull FC under 7.5 total points @ 21/20

There’s not a lot of good news at Hull FC right now. Their only win so far was a scrappy, last-gasp 28-24 success against a London Broncos side whose next closest fixture this season was a 34-0 home defeat to Catalans Dragons, so far adrift of the rest have they been to this point.

In the rest of their matches, FC have been largely well-beaten, and with their injury list and disciplinary record looking like something from a horror movie, coach Smith has had a lot of adversity to deal.

While they overcame the odds to win this game last season, there had been signs of a slight turn in the balance of power in East Yorkshire leading up to that clash. That, though, is far from evident at this point.

And with Hull struggling to score – only once topping 12 points all season – they have registered six or fewer on three occasions, once against Friday’s opponents and the other twice being in their last two matches.

While I was considering going for a Peta Hiku try at any time at EVS given the New Zealander’s form in the centres, Hull FC scoring fewer than eight points seems a relatively safe bet at 21/20 for that extra little bit of value at a 48.8% implied probability.

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