Penrith punish rusty Roosters
4 hours ago | Aidan Edgecomb
Josh Robertson takes a look at all six games across Round 15 of the Super League - the annual Magic Weekend, held again at St. James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
DAY ONE
Saturday 20 May, 2:30pm (local BST), 11:30pm (AEST); Referee: James Child
The opening match sees the 10th placed Salford take on the 7th placed Widnes, with a desperate Salford side who are looking to make up points deducted for salary cap taking on a Widnes side that has lost their past eight clashes and are desperate to turn around their form with a much needed win.
Salford are coming off a 34-20 loss away to St Helens last Friday night which sums up their season - a struggle for consistency - and with the deduction of points it's something they will need to work on if they want to get back into Super 8's and out of The Qualifiers before the season splits in July.
PLAYER WATCH: The main player to watch for the Red Devils is Justin Carney who has been essential to Salford's performances this year, and the ex-Raiders & Roosters player has netted over 2000m so far this season in metres gained - and is leading that stats table. Vikings scrum half Joe Mellor is the player to watch for Widnes with his performances with the ball in hand, which include 58 tackle busts so far this season and 13 clean busts helping set up plenty of go forward for the Vikings.
LAST MEETING: Salford d. Widnes 28-20
TIP: Widnes have been on a downward spiral that has no signs of stopping and Salford's record of win loss win loss over the past few weeks means that they should be on the uphill for a win. Salford.
Saturday 20 May, 4:45pm (local BST), Sun 1:45am (AEST); Referee: Gareth Hewer.
Match two of magic weekend sees the top of the table Warrington Wolves take on the 7th placed Castleford Tigers.
Warrington are coming off a surprise 8-point loss to Wakefield last Sunday afternoon but before that, their form has been good with the two previous matches seeing the Wolves claim two 30 point victories in as many games against Widnes and Wigan respectively.
Castleford have had a middling season but the highlight by far and away was a 52-12 thrashing of defending premiers the Leeds Rhinos away from home last weekend which followed a 32-18 Fourth Round Challenge Cup victory over Salford.
PLAYER WATCH: The player to watch for the Wolves is second rower Ben Currie who along with Chris Sandow and Kurt Gidley have been an integral part of the season so far for the Wolves. Currie has netted over 1300m and over 300 tackles for the season. Tigers second rower Mike McMeeken will be an important cog in the Tigers effort on Saturday with the second rower making the most tackles this season for Castleford to go along with 142 carries of the ball and over 1000m for the season.
LAST MEETING: Warrington d. Castleford 56-12
TIP: A flip of the coin could be the best way to decide this one, Castleford are coming into it with confidence high after the resounding victory over Leeds; Warrington on the other hand sit top of the table and are in decent form despite a last start loss however no Chris Sandow could put the brakes on and for that reason Castleford look the tip by a narrow margin.
Saturday 20 May, 7:00pm (local BST), Sun 4:00am (AEST); Referee: Rob Hicks.
The grand final rematch is the main game of day 1 but its unlikely to be a replica of the big one last year.
Defending premiers Leeds Rhinos have had a far from ideal premiership defence which sees them currently sitting last on the ESL ladder with a negative points differential of -138 which is 67 points worse than their Hull KR. Leeds will want to bounce back from that 40 point loss to Castleford last time out and although they are missing three key players this season their performances have been far from crisp as shown in previous years.
The Wigan Warriors current sit mid table but only two points off top position though a negative f/a hurts that chance over the coming weeks. The Warriors are coming off two straight Super League defeats including a 30 point defeat to Warrington but sandwiched between the Super League losses was a 54-4 Challenge Cup sixth round win over Championship side Dewsbury.
PLAYER WATCH: Tom Briscoe is the man to watch for Leeds with the centre needing to find some form to help a lacklustre Leeds side back into form and can go a long way to doing that by replicating his 2015 Challenge Cup final performance where he scored 5 tries. Wigan second rower John Bateman has been strong for the Warriors in 2016 and will crack over 1500m for the season in the upcoming match to go along with his 211 carries for the season along with over 400 tackles this season.
TIP: Even though this is a grand final rematch, the form of both sides could not be more opposite and although Leeds will want to turn around their big loss last weekend its hard to see them doing it whilst they are playing so poorly, Wigan should win this one but it could be a lot closer than people are expecting.
DAY TWO
After three big games of Rugby League with excitement, tension and plenty of skills on show we move on to day two of the Dacia Magic Weekend.
Sunday 21 May, 1:00pm (local BST), 10:00pm (AEST); Referee: Chris Campbell.
The clash of the "non-winners" is the opening match of day two, with last year's million pound game winners Wakefield taking on the French boys in Catalans who typically struggle away from their home in Perpignan in the south of France.
Wakefield despite coming last in 2015 and needing to replace coach Brian Smith just four weeks into the season which ironically came straight after the Wildcats 42-28 home defeat to the Catalans Dragons. Under new coach Chris Chester the Wildcats have lost just one regular season match and they come off a 36-28 victory over the top of the table Warrington.
Catalans sit second on the ESL ladder after an 18-16 victory over Huddersfield at home and prior to that Catalans had a comfortable 40-4 Challenge Cup victory over the Batley Bulldogs.
PLAYER WATCH: Tom Johnstone is the player to watch for the Wildcats, the centre has been one of the strongest performers for the Wildcats leading as his sides top tryscorer with 9 and has made the most metres of any Wakefield player this season. The player to watch from Catalans is the fullback Tony Gigot who has easily been the biggest metre maker for the Dragons with the fullback making 400m more than any of his teammates so far this season.
TIP: There is just too much size and strength in the Catalans side with the likes of Dave Taylor, Remi Casty, Glenn Stewart and Justin Horo all expected to play for the Dragons and that strength looks too big for Wakefield to match up to.
Sunday 21 May, 3:15pm (local BST), Mon 12:15am (AEST); Referee: Ben Thaler.
Second game of day 2 sees St Helens taking on a disappointing Huddersfield side who despite struggling this season are coming into this off two straight wins.
The Saints are coming into the game with decent super league form having won their past three matches against Salford, Castleford and Leeds though splitting the victories over Salford and Castleford was a heavy 47-18 defeat at the hands of Hull FC in the Challenge Cup sixth round.
Huddersfield come into the match off a last start loss to the hands of Catalans in the south of France but before that they beat Leeds 28-20 at home, which took them past the Rhinos and off last place on the ladder.
PLATER WATCH: The Saints player to watch is their prop forward Kyle Amor who has made the most metres this season of any player in the red and white. The prop has also provided 5 tries for St Helens along with 17 tackle busts and 344 tackles. The Giants main man is Jermaine McGillvary who has clearly been the sides' best player in 2016 with over 300m more gained than his nearest teammate. McGillvray has also made 48 tackle busts and 15 clean busts for the season.
TIP: Huddersfield really don't have enough quality on the park to turn around their form and I think St Helens will have enough to win this one comfortably.
Sunday 21 May, 5:30pm (local BST), Mon 2:30am (AEST); Referee: Richard Silverwood.
Throw away the form guides and strap yourselves in because it's the big one, it's the Hull Derby to round out the 2016 edition of the Magic Weekend. This will be the 8th time the Hull Derby has been played on magic weekend with Hull KR taking 5 of the 7 previous victories.
If results go their way Hull FC can move to the top of ESL ladder with a win after Warrington's loss yesterday and depending on the Catalans result. Hull FC have been in good recent form with 3 straight Super League wins and a 47-18 Challenge Cup sixth round victory over St Helens in the past month.
Hull KR come in to magic weekend with a 24-10 win over Widnes but outside of that their form has been mixed with a loss to Salford which was on the back of a 58-16 thrashing of Castleford.
PLAYER WATCH: Fullback Jamie Shaul is the player to watch for Hull FC with the fullback performing really well for FC, Shaul leads his teammates in metres gained, tackle busts, clean breaks and most importantly tries with 10 for the season. Hull KR rely on their Australian players a lot but their player to watch is the centre Iain Thornley who tops the Rovers try scorers stats with 8 for the season but is also one of the top metre gainers for the Rovers this season.
TIP: Form can always be thrown out the window in Hull Derbies but Hull FC will be desperate to ensure they get to the top (if Catalans don't win) or at least move into second past Warrington and for that reason that's why they are the tip.
RELATED: Click here for the full wrap of teams and officials for the Super League Magic Weekend!