Hull KR meet Salford Red Devils in Newcastle as both teams look to continue their play-off push

The highly anticipated Magic round kicks off with a mouth-watering tie between two play-off hopefuls.

Both sides have a very respectable points tally of 16 after 13 rounds of this Super League season, only trailing the league leaders by four points. However, they are also both on the fringes of dropping out of the top six.

It sounds ludicrous to say that two sides that close to the summit are in a huge play-off scrap, but in truth, the league is just so close this year. If St. Helens were to win their game in hand, then only four points would separate first and seventh.

Salford and Hull KR are right in the middle of said scrap, despite both having had excellent campaigns to this point. Saturday’s tie should give us some indication as to which one of these sides are favourites to push on and confirm their play-off spot, with the loser most likely falling out of the top six.

KR will still have last weekend’s heart wrenching loss at home on their minds, where they lost in golden point to Wigan Warriors after conceding a last second try in normal time. They need to pick themselves up  and discover their form before the loss to Warrington at the start of May, which was preceded by a run of six straight wins.

The Red Devils have a similar story taking place, four straight wins at the end of April have taken them up into the top six, and a win last time out against Hull FC put them firmly in the conversation. They are still seen as the underdogs despite registering the same amount of wins this season as KR.

The two sides last met in round two back in February. KR were comfortable winners on away turf that day and will look to continue their recent dominance over the Red Devils, having not lost against them since 2019.

As for the team news, Hull boss Willie Peters has made three changes to last weekend’s 21-man squad, they are bolstered by the return of star fullback Lachlan Coote, who replaces Ethan Ryan. George King and Rhys Kennedy also return to the strong KR squad whilst Jimmy Keinhorst and Yusuf Aydin drop out.

As for Salford, coach Paul Rowley has named a full 21-man squad after only being able to name a 19-man squad last weekend. Winger Ken Sio and centre Tim Lafai are big name returns for the Red Devils, whilst Adam Sidlow and Amir Bourouh also retake their places in the squad, leaving Alex Gerrard and Andrew Dixon to drop out.

Magic Weekend always produces some magnificent games and this is sure to be one of them. Nothing separates the two sides who both love to play outside of the box rugby league, and it’s the weekend opener. What more could we ask for?

 

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