Toulouse vs Hull KR Prediction: May day to come early for Rovers on French fields

Champions Hull KR look to continue their climb up the early Betfred Super League table, with a Friday night in the south of France against new boys Toulouse (18:00 BST, Sky Sports+).

Rovers have won three in a row and five or their last six games since being thrashed by Leeds in Las Vegas, and should be too hot for a Toulouse team on a run of five defeats on the spin. Read on for my Toulouse vs Hull KR predictions.

Toulouse vs Hull KR Odds

Hull KR captain Elliot Minchella missed the Robins' Betfred Challenge Cup win last weekend with a hamstring issue, but it was only 'tightness' and the good news is that Minchella is fit to return this week. You sense, therefore, that had last week been a final then he would most probably have played.

Rising star Tom Whitehead - who finished last season at Oldham in the Championship - drops out. Dean Hadley has been struggling with an eye issue that kept him on the bench for the second half last week, but he is once again included.

Toulouse leave out prop Tyler Dupree, while top tryscorer Benjamin Laguerre also misses out.

There are five changes in total from the squad who lost out to Catalans Dragons in a thriller a fortnight ago. Joe Cator, Romeo Tropis and Hugo Garrigues are the other three to make way. The men to come in are wingers Paul Ulberg and Mathieu Pons - who, by the way, can run 100m in under 10.9 seconds - Henry O'Kane, Victor Collin and Baptiste Rodriguez.

Handicap 3-way: Hull KR - 22 @ 20/21

These two teams appear to be heading in different directions, with Hull KR slowly hitting their straps after a start to the season disrupted by showpiece games in Las Vegas and the World Club Challenge, while after winning their first two games back in the big time Toulouse are in freefall.

That said, the French side have been unfortunate. Five defeats on the spin does not look great, but the most recent losses to Catalans and Leigh were by just seven and one single point respectively.

So can they pull off a shock here? I don't think so. Much of that disrupted start to the year for Rovers came either side of those two big games mentioned, but the undercurrent of uncertainty around their head coach has at least now gone away too, given we know that Willie Peters is to leave at the end of the year.

Performances have improved, another cup semi-final date is in the diary, and now the focus is on continuing to move up that Betfred Super League table.

There should be plenty of points in this one, with Toulouse having shipped 138 points in those five straight losses and Rovers having scored 154 in their last five.

The handicap is 22 points and I have Rovers to beat that.

Tyrone May Anytime Tryscorer @ 11/4

We have been dodging the wins in the anytime market a little bit with Rovers. Recommendations Jack Broadbent and Joe Burgess both crossed last weekend, but our selection Jez Litten did not.

It is the same quandary this week in a game that should yield the visitors plenty of opportunities.

For Toulouse to have a chance then we need to be looking at Ulberg (5/2) and full-back Olly Ashall-Bolt (6/4) to cross, but with the wise money on the Robins it is the usual suspects once more to the fore.

Broadbent is a reliable returner at 10/11, while I also fancy Peta Hiku, armed with a new one-year contract extension, to do some damage this week at 5/4.

But at 11/4 there seems real value in Tyrone May after his match-winning Betfred Challenge Cup display last weekend. At his best, the former Penrith Panthers half-back can be a real game-changer, and his hat-trick against York underlined a fine start to the season.

May is the kind of player who gets better as the weather improves - as ridiculous as that sounds - and having starred in the south of France for Catalans a few seasons back I'm expecting a strong showing in Toulouse.

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