Hull KR vs Castleford Tigers Prediction: Robins riot on the cards on opening night

Last year's beaten Betfred Super League Grand Finalists Hull KR feel like they are going to be even stronger this season. In round one on Friday they welcome to Sewell Group Craven Park (kick-off 20:00, live on Sky Sports+ HD) a Castleford Tigers side already licking their wounds after being dumped out of the Betfred Challenge Cup by Bradford Bulls last weekend.

Rovers are a stylish, hard-to-beat outfit under Willie Peters and you won't find many rugby league fans expecting anything from Danny McGuire's Tigers in this season opener. My Hull KR vs Castleford Tigers predictions reflect as much, alongside full team news and match odds.

Hull KR vs Castleford Tigers Odds

Rovers were 36-6 winners over Cas in the corresponding fixture last season, and are heavy 1/14 favourites to get the two points on opening night at a sold-out Craven Park, implying a 93.3% probability of a home win. That means the value will lie elsewhere, and the title sponsors Betfred have the handicap placed at 18.5 points, with KR a 10/11 to win against the disadvantage and Cas priced at 5/6 in that scenario.

A shock Tigers win is available at 15/2, with the draw 25/1.

If you're as convinced as the bookies that Rovers will win this one, it's worth looking at the likely victory margin as a money-earner. The Robins are 2/5 to win by 13 or more points (71.4% chance) and 13/5 (27.2%) to be held to within two converted scores by the visitors.

Team News

Hull KR name an unchanged squad after knocking York Knights out of the Challenge Cup last weekend, and start the season at pretty much full strength.

So there could be some Super League debuts on the cards for the Robins for the likes of Tom Davies, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Michael McIlorum, Rhyse Martin and Bill Leyland. It's fair to say Peters' recruitment has been pretty impressive and there will be no resting on the laurels of last season's trip to Old Trafford.

Cas boss Danny McGuire embarks on his first full season in charge having already pulled no punches in his assessment of their cup exit to the Bulls. He is also without some key men for the trip to Craven Park, with winger Jason Qareqare out with a hamstring issue and key forward Alex Mellor missing for a similar reason. Rowan Milnes, Sam Hall and Louis Senior are missing too, and the Tigers therefore look light at a time of year which normally sees a fully fresh squad.

Ben Davies is included after his loan move from St Helens as one of half a dozen of the Tigers squad who could make their first Super League appearance.

Handicap 3-way Alternative 2: Hull KR -24 @ 8/5

A huge crowd will welcome Hull KR to the field in what I expect will be as routine a first fixture as they could have wished for. It's been three years since Cas beat KR and they won't be winning this one.

I really enjoyed watching the Robins last year and if a couple of things had gone a different way then they may well have ended up lifting the trophy. A few players have moved on but the signings look excellent, and the Rovers pack appears to be one of the most formidable in the British game.

Add to that the acquisition of points machine Rhyse Martin from Leeds and I see most pieces of the Hull KR jigsaw looking stronger. His goal-kicking will be a big boost too in tighter games than this one.

I fear for Cas this year and think my old mate Danny McGuire is going to have a really tough time of it. Things might pick up when Danny gets some bodies back but I see this as a one-sided game I'm afraid. I'm looking at the home side by a considerable margin.

Rhyse Martin anytime tryscorer @ 2/1

As I stated above, I think Martin's capture was a stunning piece of business, and you won't find many Leeds Rhinos fans who were pleased to see him go.

Martin is an excellent goal kicker but he also has a great knack of popping up with a try, as he showed last Friday with two of Rovers' eight tries against York. He starts the season just 24 points off the 1000-point milestone in Super League. He probably won't hit that on the opening night, but he can make a decent dent in it.

At 2/1, he's an implied 33.3% shot for getting over the line.

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