Warrington Wolves vs Catalans Dragons Predictions: Revenge on the menu for Wire

In-form Warrington Wolves host Catalans Dragons in one of the ties of Rivals Round on Saturday (kick-off 15:00 GMT), as the home side look to avenge their only defeat of the Betfred Super League season so far.

The Dragons won 16-10 on the opening weekend of the campaign, but Sam Burgess has led Warrington to victory in every game since to move alongside Catalans at the top end of the table. That makes Warrington Wolves vs Catalans Dragons predictions far from straightforward.

Team news

Burgess names probably his strongest squad of the Warrington season so far, with half-backs Josh Drinkwater and England captain George Williams both fit. That opening-day defeat in Perpignan is the only game the two have started together so far, with Wiliams plagued by an ankle issue and Drinkwater recovering from a thigh injury.

Back-row forwards Ben Currie and Lachlan Fitzgibbon also return, with Rodrick Tai preferred in the centres to Connor Wrench after his debut last week.

The Dragons are without star man – and favourite of this column – Arthur Mourgue through a hamstring injury. The French playmaker scored 12 of those 16 points in the round one victory.

Cesar Rouge is likely to deputise at full-back, with Jayden Nikorima and Tanguy Zenon also out. There is better news in the pack, with Tariq Sims and Bayley Sironen back available.

Warrington Wolves to win by 1-12 points @ 9/5

This is a really difficult game to call, with both sides having won four and lost one of their first five games, and Catalans grabbing the upper hand with that opening win in France. In fact the Dragons also have a good record at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, where they haven’t lost in four years, and all logic tells me that Steve McNamara’s side should probably be favourites for this.

But they are not, and that is down to the way the Wolves have started under Burgess. With a pretty stacked squad now at his disposal this could be the game in which his side cut loose. Catalans will miss the guile of Mourgue but have potent strike out wide in Tom Johnstone and last weekend’s hat-trick hero Tom Davies.

I think this will be pretty fierce and equally close, but with a spring in their step I’m expecting a narrow Warrington win to maintain their excellent start under the new head coach.

Matt Dufty and Tom Davies to score anytime @ 7/2

This pair are two of the best attacking weapons in this fixture, so I’ve gone for them both to go over during the game at better odds.

Dufty has been a revelation this season and is finally flourishing in the British game. His six tries have him flying high in the try charts behind only Ash Handley. He took it easy last week, not scoring any of Warrington’s nine tries against London Broncos, so I am expecting him to return to form in this one.

Davies helped himself to a hat-trick inside 14 minutes at Halifax Panthers in the Betfred Challenge Cup and he is a confidence player who makes a habit of scoring a ton of tries whenever he finds a purple patch.

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