A record crowd is expected at the KC Lightstream Stadium this evening, as Hull Kingston Rovers look to keep up the pace with the top eight by beating in-form Huddersfield Giants.
The Robins crushed relegation-threatened Bradford at Odsal last Friday to stay in touch with eighth-placed Widnes, and they have named an unchanged 19-man squad for the clash. Forward Jamie Langley has missed out on selection, as he is still sidelined with a knee injury that kept him out of the Bradford game.
As for Huddersfield, they too name an unchanged squad for the trip to East Hull, with Aaron Murphy still out injured. A win for the Giants would move them to within two points of Super League leaders St Helens, after their huge resurgence in form over the last six weeks.
The Squads
Hull KR: Burns, Carlile, Costigan, Eden, Esslemont, Gardner, Green, Hall, D Hodgson, J Hodgson, Horne, Keating, Lovegrove, Netherton, Ollett, Salter, Walker, Welham, Weyman.
Huddersfield Giants: Grix, McGillvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, Brough, Robinson, Crabtree, Kopczak, Ferres, Chan, Bailey, Lawrence, Patrick, Faiumu, Ta’ai, Wood, Broughton, Mullally, Johnson.
The Stats
Ade Gardner needs one appearance to reach 350 for his career. Gardner has played club rugby for Barrow (30 games, 2000-2001), St Helens (286 games, 2002-2013), Whitehaven (2 dual-registration games, 2013-2014) and Hull KR (14 loan games, 2014). He has also represented Great Britain (5 Tests, 2006-2007), England (5 games, 2005 & 2008), England ‘A’ (6 games, 2002-2003) and Cumbria (1 game, 2003).
Jermaine McGillvary needs three tries to reach a career century of touchdowns. His total of 97 has been scored as follows: 22 for Batley (2008-2009), 8 for Barrow (2010) and 67 for Huddersfield (2010-2014).
Last ten meetings:
Huddersfield 24, Hull KR 24 (SLR2, 23/2/14)
Hull KR 35, Huddersfield 28 (SLR18, 7/6/13)
Huddersfield 50, Hull KR 30 (SLR12, 14/4/13)
Huddersfield 26, Hull KR 44 (SLR17, 11/6/12)
Hull KR 40, Huddersfield 22 (SLR8, 25/3/12)
Huddersfield 46, Hull KR 26 (SLR23, 30/7/11)
Hull KR 16, Huddersfield 38 (SLR7, 26/3/11)
Huddersfield 16, Hull KR 16 (SLR19, 25/6/10)
Huddersfield 40, Hull KR 12 (CCR4, 18/4/10)
Hull KR 0, Huddersfield 30 (SLR3, 21/2/10)
The Prediction
With a record home crowd cheering them on, it’s likely that Hull Kingston Rovers could cause the upset of the weekend on Thursday night. Even though Huddersfield’s form is scintillating, backing Hull KR may not be the stupidest move in this instance.
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