Warrington Wolves vs Hull KR Predictions: Rovers heading for the top with Hiku

Two of the Betfred Super League's leading pack meet at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday night as Warrington Wolves host Hull Kingston Rovers in a battle which will decide who breaks the phenomenal six-way tie at the top of the table (kick-off 20:00 BST, live on Sky Sports Arena).

The pair are among half-a-dozen clubs on 14 points after the opening 10 rounds of the competition, making their second clash of the league campaign all the more tantalising. Here are my Warrington Wolves vs Hull KR predictions, with a tight contest expected.

Team News

After the controversy around the inclusion or otherwise of Adam Holroyd in his side’s 21-man squad last week, Sam Burgess will have spent the past couple of days tripling-checking his selection for the visit of Willie Peters’ Hull KR.

There are three changes from the 21 that the Wire published to the public for the 24-6 win over Hull FC, with Matty Ashton back in after missing two matches with a toe injury, while Jordy Crowther and James Harrison return having been given the week off when the Black and Whites came to town.

Joe Bullock drops out of the reckoning, as do youngsters Cai Taylor-Wray and Tom Whitehead, but Burgess has warned that there will be some late decisions to make on players who are carrying injuries.

“There’s still a couple of 50-50s that we’ll probably know more about on the morning of the game, we’ll have to wait and see,” explained the Wire coach during his pre-match media duties.

Peters can call upon new signing Jack Brown after the forward signed a two-and-a-half year contract with his boyhood club this week in a swap deal with Hull FC which has seen Yusuf Aydin move on a permanent contract to the MKM Stadium.

Elsewhere, Oliver Gildart has been for scans on the knee injury he suffered in the warm-up ahead of the 40-20 win over St Helens and misses out on the trip across the Pennines. Jack Broadbent should start again after a try-scoring debut on Saturday.

James Batchelor is selected despite some blurred vision from an eye-poke against the Saints, while captain Elliot Minchella has been carrying a groin complaint and his inclusion will be the subject of a late decision on the day of the game.

Hull KR to win by 1-5 points @ 13/2

After their headline-grabbing victories over Wigan Warriors and St Helens in their last two fixtures, it is now time for Rovers to show their mettle on the road against a Warrington side who edged them out in a dramatic back-and-forth clash at Craven Park in round four.

The Wolves have largely shown excellent form under Burgess this term, but they have been less convincing of late following on from their brilliant 31-8 win at St Helens in the Betfred Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

They have actually won two of three since then, but the victories either side of the 17-12 loss to Salford Red Devils have not been of the most free-flowing variety, with Leigh Leopards edged out 16-14 and crisis club Hull beaten 24-6 last time out.

With that in mind, I fancy Hull KR to just about edge this one. Whoever prevails shouldn’t do so by much, with these two evenly matched, but Peters has got a real tune out of the Robins since their no-show in the 36-6 loss to Catalans Dragons a few weeks ago.

The generous 13/2 odds imply a 13.3% probability, and given that this one is a coin-flip, I’ll take that.

Peta Hiku anytime tryscorer @ 7/4

Peta Hiku got a few pelters in his early days at Hull KR back in February, with his full-back play and goalkicking identified as examples that he was struggling to transition to life in the Betfred Super League.

Yet the New Zealand international returns to the Halliwell Jones for the first time as a visiting player since his short spell as a Wolf in 2017 with a great run of recent form behind him. His eight tries in 10 Super League fixtures this term take his tally in UK league play to 18 in his last 18 matches incorporating that previous time with Warrington.

There can be no doubting Hiku’s quality at this level, and he has scored in 70 per cent of Rovers’ league games this season, linking superbly with Joe Burgess and particularly Niall Evalds since his switch to the centres. I can see another tryscoring performance from Hiku in a contest which promises plenty of points in another ding-dong clash.

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