Hull KR vs St Helens Prediction: Visitors to extend winning run

After a crucial 16-10 win over Hull FC, St Helens are back in action on Friday night against Hull KR (20:00 BST, live on Sky Sports Action). Saints legend Paul Sculthorpe is here with his Hull KR vs St Helens predictions.

Saints continued their push for a top-two finish in the regular Betfred Super League with a 16-10 home win over the sixth-placed Hull FC.

It was that man again, Morgan Knowles leading from the front. Seven minutes in, Morgs broke through the FC defence on the halfway line and proceeded to skin Zak Hardaker and win the race to the tryline to put the home side ahead.

At 14 mins, a Kyle Feldt penalty put the hosts two scores ahead - 8-0.

I thought Saints continued to dominate possession and position for the next 25 minutes, but were unable to convert this into points.

The next points came on 31 minutes, and it was Hull that hit back when a loose carry from Harry Robertson was knocked out over the Saints in-goal area, and it was Davy Litten who got to the ball first to touch down. 8-6 Saints.

The returning Jack Welsby, who made his long awaited return off the bench in the win over Huddersfield, claimed his starting full-back jersey back. This no doubt gave head coach Paul Wellens the dilemma of what to do with the in-form Tristan Sailor.

Wello chose to drop Jonnie Lomax to the bench, moving Sailor to stand-off.

I’ve spoke in the column over the past few months of the improved performances on attack have coincided with finding a stable half-back combination of Mbye and Lomax, and in my opinion, wouldn’t have disrupted this just to accommodate Tristan.

There’s absolutely no doubt his running game has been outstanding of late, and he certainly adds valuable pace and strike to the Saints attack - but from full-back.

I find he plays a different game in the halves, probably focusing on what others do around him rather than playing what he sees, as he does from the backfield.

This was evident as Wello made the change five minutes into the second half, bringing on the experienced Lomax in place of Sailor. He spoke post game of Jonnie’s calming influence when entering the field.

Of course a fit Welsby has to go straight in, but the halves have too big an influence to disrupt.

All being said, Hull FC are having their best season in a decade plus, and Saints again showed dogged defence and commitment to get the all-important two points.

It was the aforementioned Mbye, who certainly looks like he’s enjoying his role in the team, who again put the home side two scores clear at 61 minutes.

Smart play from Welsby played into the Hull FC defensive line, and when you are a world-class player, defenders are easy to put where you want. That’s exactly what Jack did with Cade Cust, bringing him out of the line allowing the supporting Mbye to take a short ball right off his shoulder and under the posts.

Only one real blip in the Saints defence on 71 minutes gave the visitors hope of a comeback.

Lewis Martin scored down the left flank after a poor read by Kyle Feldt, putting only one score between the teams again with just under 10 minutes to play. Thankfully that was the final result and Saints march on.

One disappointment out of the game, was the withdrawal of Owen Dagnall with an obvious hamstring pull.

While carrying the ball cross field and nobody near him, the winger looked like he’d been snipered. I felt his pain!

Such a shame for Owen who has been outstanding since his debut earlier this season, and made the position his own. Hopefully a speedy recovery in time for the play-offs.

This unfortunate injury no doubt makes Paul Wellens team selection this week a lot simpler as the team head to East Hull to face league leaders Hull KR.

The obvious choice is moving Tristan Sailor to the left wing, with Lomax returning to the starting 13.

Always a tough game this. But recently there has been a few cracks in the Rovers armour and last weekend they were totally demolished by Leeds Rhinos 28-6.

It’s probably not a bad time to play KR, especially with Saints in great form winning nine of the last 10 games. A win over in Humberside would be the perfect preparation too for the following weeks ‘Rival Round’ derby against Wigan.

These next two weeks will no doubt have a massive bearing on final play-off positions.

I’m going to back Saints to extend their winning run on Friday, by four points. The Hull KR vs St Helens Odds are as follows - 4/11 Hull KR, 23/10 Saints and 18/1 draw.

While mentioning Leeds Rhinos, last weekend's win over the Robins was probably the best Leeds performance I’ve seen in the last five to seven years. Brad Arthur has certainly turned around this side, adding more steel and discipline to his Rhinos, for sure.

All the talk earlier in the season was about Hull KR and Wigan being the obvious candidates for a Grand Final appearance, but what about a Saints-Leeds showdown - neither have been to Old Trafford since Saints' last silverware in 2022.

Betfred have the following prices to be 2025 Super League champions - Saints 8/1, Hull KR 11/10, Wigan 2/1, Leeds 6/1, Leigh 12/1 and Hull FC 66/1.

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