Waite confident over Sculthorpe fitness
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Your support makes all the difference.Paul Sculthorpe is winning his race to be fit for Great Britain's vital second Test against New Zealand on Saturday. The St Helens loose-forward or stand-off missed the first Test defeat last weekend with a thigh injury, but the Great Britain coach, David Waite, is confident that he will have him available for a game at Huddersfield that must be won to keep the series alive.
"He's coming along well,'' said Waite. "He has had his best day's training for the last fortnight and if he improves as much tomorrow I'll be able to name him in my 18.''
That would be a major boost for Britain, with Waite admitting that: "If we had had him fit for the first Test, it could have been the difference between winning and losing.''
Waite has definitely decided to bring Terry O'Connor into his pack, but remains uncertain whether to persist with Karl Pratt after his repeated misadventures under the high ball at Blackburn. "It's a question of whether to put him back on the horse after a fall,'' said Waite. "He's really keen to get back on the park. He doesn't want to hide.''
The Kiwis have David Solomona back in full training after his chest injury at Ewood Park, along with Ruben Wiki, Jason Cayless and David Vaealiki, who all missed that Test. But their coach, Gary Freeman, has lingering doubts over a recurrence of Clinton Toopi's chest injury and Paul Rauhihi's thigh problem, after neither of them could train fully yesterday.
St Helens have scrapped plans for a new stadium in the town after hearing that a supermarket on which the project depended will not get planning permission. Saints now intend to redevelop Knowsley Road, their home for more than 100 years, and have severed their links with the local rugby union club, Liverpool-St Helens, saying that they can no longer justify subsiding them.
The Bradford forward, Richard Moore, was forced out of the England A team to play Fiji in Suva today with a stomach bug. Wigan's Ricky Bibey was promoted to take his place at the tourists tried to repeat their 44-8 victory in their first match last weekend.
Two Russian teams, Kazan Arrows and Lokomotiv Moscow, are to play in next season's Challenge Cup,. Kazan will come in at the second-round stage and Moscow, the Russian champions, in the following round.
Widnes, who have clinched a £200,000 two-year sponsorship deal with the wood company Finnforest are giving a trial to the young Australian back-rower, Simon Finnegan, from Penrith. Finnegan has a British passport and will not count on the club's overseas quota, so he will be tried out in pre-season matches before they decide whether to offer him a contract.
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