Wigan Warriors vs St Helens Prediction: Scully senses Saints upset on Magic Weekend

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Last weekend,  Saints travelled to Odsal Stadium for the first time in 12 years to face the Bradford Bulls.

Coming off the back of a comfortable, albeit far-from-convincing win over Huddersfield Giants, Paul Rowley’s men were eyeing back-to-back Betfred Super League wins following three defeats on the spin.

The first points of the game came from a Jackson Hastings penalty goal. This was soon levelled after Shane Wright hit Chris Atkin late as he kicked the ball.

Wright was subsequently sin-binned for this pointless, ill discipline. You just can’t get away with things like that in today’s game, especially when you make contact with the head.

Another Bulls penalty put the home side 4-2 up, before David Klemmer was exploited for his lack of line speed and Bulls Phoenix Steinwede pushed through the line to score. Converted try, 10-2 Bulls.

Rowls spoke after the game of his frustrations with the Saints discipline in the opening 40 minutes, and something that was addressed in the sheds.

It took 28mins for the visitors to post their first try, and it came via some slick hands from Hastings and Jack Welsby, to put Jacob Douglas over for his debut try.

This was followed up on 34mins, as Joe Shorrocks jumped out of dummy-half, hitting Curtis Sironen on a hard line. Too big, too strong that close to the line. 10-12 to Saints at half-time.

The second period was a far more professional display from St Helens. It took just three minutes for Welsby to touch down a Hasting grubber kick, and this was the start of a one-sided half of rugby.

Further tries from Shorrocks, Hastings and Welsby gave Saints a 28-0 second-half advantage - and more importantly an important two points.

Wigan Warriors vs St Helens Odds

The game was unfortunately marred by a serious head injury to Bulls prop Will Gardiner, who was knocked out cold trying to tackle Saints new boy Daniel Suluka-Fifita. Thankfully, the club have reported Will is back home and will have further medical checks. I wish him a speedy recovery.

There have been endless comments about whether Saints half Jackson Hastings will face disciplinary action after he put a hand on the injured player and alerted those around him. Come on!

Jacko was clearly concerned about a fellow player. He didn’t try to move him, or risk any further injury, he was merely showing compassion that’s common in our great game. Let’s not lose the plot like other sports.

This week, the Betfred Super League moves to the fabulous Hill Dickinson Stadium - the home of my beloved Everton!

Over 80,000 fans have already purchased tickets for one of rugby league’s most-popular events.

Wigan is the challenge for Saints this year, as Magic Weekend goes derby-crazy.

Saints-Warriors will be the final game of the weekend, and should be a cracker.

You’d be foolish not to admit Wigan will be clear favourites, despite both teams sitting on 22pts in the table. But, this was the case on Good Friday and we all know what happened there!

I'm going to, optimistically, back the boys to upset the odds. If they do it, it's likely to be by a small margin, so Saints by 1-12 points is the play.