Huge St Helens crowd to welcome World Club Challenge heroes for first home game against Leeds Rhinos

The turnstiles will be clicking merrily at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday night when fans welcome home their World Club Challenge winners and then face a date with struggling Leeds Rhinos.

Tickets for the Battle of  the Roses are selling like hot cakes and Saints - the defending Betred Super League champions - are expecting a huge gate and advise people currently without tickets to purchase them NOW to avoid disappointment. The west stand is already sold out and spaces are limited in other parts of the stadium.

Winger Tommy Makinson returns to the 21-man squad for the first home game of the season in front ar a near capacity crowd after missing Sunday’s win at Castleford Tigers following an head injury, but skipper James Roby, Will Hopoate, Agnatius Passi and  Joe Batchelor are all ruled out - the latter likely to be sidelined for some considerable time.

Saints squad: Welsby, Makinson, Percival, Benninson, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Lees,  Mata’utia, Knowles, Lussick, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Sironen,  Wingfield, Bell, Norman, Davies, Royle, Hurrell, Ritson, Delaney.

Leeds: Myler, Fusitu’a, MacDonald, Hanley, Austin, Sezer, Leeming, Tetevano, Bentley, Martin, Smith, O’Connor, Lisone, Olpherts, Sangare, Holroyd, McDonnell, Walters (S.), Tindall, Donaldson, Sinfield.