Matty Smith to make first appearance of the season for St Helens

Mar 5 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

RESERVE scrum-half Matty Smith will make his first appearance of the season for St Helens against Hull at Knowsley Road on Friday.

The 20-year-old former Everton apprentice will get his chance in the absence of Sean Long, who joined Saints’ growing injury list when he hurt a knee in the last tackle of Sunday’s 34-30 win over Wakefield.

Long, who is expected to be out for three to four weeks, will be one of six first-choice players definitely on the sidelines while captain Paul Sculthorpe is rated by coach Daniel Anderson as a 50-50 chance to play.

Sculthorpe made his comeback from a ruptured Achilles last month and played only half an hour of the match against Wakefield.

“My legs tightened up a bit,” he said. “It wasn’t the reason I came off but it was the reason I stayed off. It was only my second game in eight months.

“The injuries are fine. It’s just a matter of getting back into it and, hopefully, I’ll be fine for Friday.

“They were looking to bring me off the bench for the first three or four games like last time but injuries have forced them to do otherwise so I’m probably doing more at the moment than I should have been.”

Gary Wheeler, 18, is the latest player from the Saints academy to come into contention after being named in Anderson’s initial 20-man squad.

Hull’s Great Britain centre Kirk Yeaman is poised to make his first appearance of the season after recovering from a hyper-extension of the elbow.

Warrington prop Paul Wood is facing another two-month lay-off after aggravating a shoulder injury in his club’s 38-18 win over Catalans Dragons.

Wood dislocated the shoulder just six minutes into his comeback on Sunday, after six months out following a reconstruction.