Leigh Leopards vs Hull KR Predictions: Another 8/1 tip after last week’s winners

Hull Kingston Rovers go looking for a bounce-back win in their quest for a home semi-final when they travel to Leigh Sports Village on Friday to take on the resurgent Leigh Leopards in Betfred Super League (kick-off 20:00 BST, live on Sky Sports+).

KR were pegged back from a 20-8 lead away to the Wigan Warriors in a top-of-the-table encounter last week, and it brought in bittersweet 7/1 and 8/1 tips for me. More on that later. In the meantime, here are my Leigh Leopards vs Hull KR predictions.

Leigh Leopards vs Hull KR Odds

There’s not an awful lot between these two in the betting, and one glance at the form table shows why. Leigh come into the game on the back of nine wins in 10, and Rovers are eight from nine.

Over the last two months, these are the best two teams in the country.

So Leigh’s 11/10 odds for victory are tempting, as much as second-placed Rovers are the understandable 4/5 favourites. It’s 18/1 for the draw, which I’m sure we’ve seen somewhere before, eh, 2023 Betfred Challenge Cup final fans?

Team News

Leopards boss Adrian Lam has Edwin Ipape back available after missing last week’s 34-12 win at Castleford Tigers due to a sore shoulder. Lam was quick to reassure Leigh fans that the hooker’s issue was nothing to worry about, and the Papuan is included for Friday.

Beyond the 18 named at the Jungle last week, Keanan Brand comes into contention, as does Zak Hardaker after the centre was overlooked by Lam for the win in West Yorkshire.

Rugby League Odds

Rovers have been pretty consistent in their selection of late, and for Friday they make only one change to the 21-player squad named for that loss to Wigan.

Jai Whitbread sits out due to suspension for the controversial ricochet contact made on Tyler Dupree which led to a second-half sin-binning. He is replaced in the 21 by George King, who has been a victim of circumstances for much of this season amidst the increased competition for places.

Niall Evalds is named in the squad after being a late scratch against Wigan, with Jack Broadbent likely to make way if the first-choice full-back is passed fit.

Josh Charnley first tryscorer @ 8/1

I was flying high last week, with both of my tips in the Wigan-Hull KR game coming in. There was the double result which predicted Rovers’ half-time lead and Wigan’s resilient win at 7/1, then Liam Marshall crossed for the winning try to bring in his 8/1 last tryscorer selection.

Brilliant, eh? Not for this Rovers fan, but my objectivity at least made a few quid for followers of this column.

Anyway, we’re going for it again this week. Just like Marshall, Josh Charnley has a pretty formidable record against Hull KR. He has 26 tries in just 30 appearances against the Robins, including two hat-tricks in his Wigan days.

Even in defeats to Rovers last season in the league and the play-offs at Craven Park, he crossed for tries. In total he scored five in five against KR in 2023, including the winner in the last minute of Leigh’s first-ever away Super League win in March.

As such, even though I can see Rovers getting the two points, it will be a close-run thing and Charnley could well set the wheels in motion early.

There’s also the lure of Betfred’s Super League Double Delight offer, where we’ll double the price of a winning first tryscorer bet if they go on to cross for a second later in the game.

Hull KR by 1-12 points @ 2/1

I’m not altogether comfortable tipping this one as a pessimistic Rovers fan who was sure this was the big banana-skin in the last three rounds of the Super League campaign.

That said, Willie Peters has built a very different type of outfit from the ones of years gone by when one defeat would lead to two, three or even six or seven. This game could see a quick response, especially since KR were the better side when it was 13 v 13 at the Brick last week.

I don’t see them running away with it. They’ve never really had it easy at LSV even if they actually have a four-from-five record at the venue against Leigh – and also beat Wigan there in the 2015 Challenge Cup – so I like the look of the 2/1 at an implied probability of 33.3% for Rovers to win by two scores or less.

You can read all our latest Rugby League Betting Tips at our dedicated Betfred Insights Rugby League content hub.