Challenge Cup Quarter Final Preview.
Date: 26/6/15.
Kick off: 8pm.
Venue: KC Stadium.
Coverage: BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Leeds, BBC Humberside; Sky Sports 2.
Squads.
Hull FC: Abdull, Bowden, Ellis, Houghton, Lineham, Michaels, Minichello, Paea, Paleaasina, Pryce, Rankin, Sa, Shaul, Talanoa, Thompson, Watts, Westerman, Whiting, Yeaman.
Leeds: Hardaker, Watkins, Moon, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Aiton, Peacock, Ablett, Sinfield, Ward, Delaney, Cuthbertson, Sutcliffe, Singleton, Keinhorst, Walters, Handley.
Last Five Meetings.
21/06/2015: Leeds Rhinos 32-20 Hull FC – Headingley Carnegie.
05/03/2015: Hull FC 12 43 Leeds Rhinos – KC Stadium.
12/09/2014: Hull FC 24-19 Leeds Rhinos – KC Stadium.
23/05/2014: Leeds Rhinos 20-6 Hull FC – Headingley Carnegie.
31/05/13: Hull FC 18-6 Leeds Rhinos – KC Stadium.
Preview.
Challenge Cup holders Leeds will be hoping history is about to repeat itself as they prepare for a Challenge Cup meeting with Hull just five days after playing them in Super League.
When they go head-to-head in Friday’s quarter-final at the KC Stadium, remarkably, it will be the third time a cup tie has immediately followed a League clash between them in the last six years, with the Rhinos aiming to make it a hat-trick of wins following their 32-20 triumph at Headingley last Sunday and back-to-back victories in both 2010 and 2011.
In all, Leeds have won six of their last seven Challenge Cup meetings with the Airlie Birds since 2000 – Hull’s only win in that time came in the 2005 final at the Millennium Stadium where Paul Cooke proved to be the hero with a late score in their 25-24 win.
Hull coach Lee Radford is set to turn to 19-year-old Jordan Abdull as the replacement for scrum-half Marc Sneyd, who received a two-match ban for a leg twist on his opposite number Danny McGuire during Sunday’s league game.
McGuire is a major doubt, but Brian McDermott has named him in his 19-man squad after he was cleared of a break, and will make a late call on both him and stand-off Liam Sutcliffe, with Adam Cuthbertson also fighting for fitness.
Prediction: After Sunday’s controversial events, Friday night’s Sky game looks set for fireworks. With the added incentive of a Challenge Cup semi-final place at stake, we could be set for one of the games of the season. But, at the KC, I believe Hull will have the edge. Hull by 6.
