Hull KR v Salford Red Devils Rugby League Million Pound Game Odds & Preview

Hull KR to edge emotional Rugby League showdown

Rugby Betting

With a title like the Million Pound Game you would think that it would be the final of a major trophy or something. It’s not, it is simply a battle of survival. Rugby League’s Million Pound Game will be played on Saturday at the Lightstream Stadium with Hull KR v Salford Red Devils betting taking centre stage. At the end of the Regular season of the Super League, the bottom four sides go into battle with the top four teams from the Championship to sort of make a middle section league between the Super League and the Championship, called The Qualifiers.

So the eight teams in The Qualifiers, play every other team just the once and the top three at the end of that will get to stay in the Super League for the following season. The teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th will go to the Championship for the following season, with the 4th and 5th teams from The Qualifiers go into the Million Pound Game. This is a controversial set up which was introduced in 2015 following the restructuring of the game.

Leeds Rhinos, Leigh Centurions and the Huddersfield Giants finished in the top three of The Qualifiers, leaving Hull KR and Salford Red Devils to battle it out in the Million Pound Game, which is a match of sheer dread for the players. Out of that lot incidentally, Leigh make it up from the Championship into the Super League next season and Hull KR and Salford will be hoping to stay there as well after this.

This is a pressure game of the highest degree. It’s not been widely received at all, because the players on the losing team will have their Super League contracts voided because of suffering relegation to the Championship. That means players will be without a job and a salary in the worst cases. With Rugby League players earning nowhere near the amount that professional football players do, the loss of contracts for players would be a massive blow and potentially damaging to the game.

That will happen to either Hull KR or the Salford Red Devils on Saturday, with the loser going to the Championship next season. When the two sides met back in Round 6 of this season’s Super League, Hull KR landed a 44-30 victory at Craven Park. But things were reversed when they met back up again at the AJ Bell Stadium, with Salford Red Devils running out comprehensive 44-26 winners on home soil. So there really isn’t much to split the two of them, however, Hull KR won only the six games this season compared to the ten that the Red Devils put on the board.

Indeed, if Salford hadn’t have been decided six points in the Super League because of financial issues, then they would have done enough to have avoided The Qualifiers, dropping Wakefield in there instead. Salford also heavily outscored Hull KR over the course of the Super League season by 74 points and their defence was in much better shape as well. But Hull KR go into the fixture of the Million Pound Game as 8/11 favourites, with Salford at 6/5.

However, the tables turned when it came to The Qualifiers.

Hull KR won one more game than Salford did and produced a better offensive and defensive record as well. So it was Hull KR taking the edge towards the end of the season leading up to this and only because of a much-debated drop goal conceded in the final minute of their game against Huddersfield in The Qualifiers (some thought it didn’t go through the posts) they would have held on to win and would have retained their Super League status and Huddersfield Giants would have been in this situation.

This is such a special occasion though, with contracts and jobs on the line pretty much. Form really isn’t likely to count for too much here. Salford have the better of the two sides and they are the more adventurous, attacking side of the two but the Red Devils probably aren’t as strong mentally as Hull KR who have had major problems with injuries and a temporary coach in place at the moment. Hull get home advantage and so will that and their grit be enough to pull them through this emotional affair or will this be a bridge too far for them? It’s worth having a look at Hull KR for a price of 11/5 to win by 1-10 points.

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