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Sculthorpe to mark St Helens finale with Wembley send-off

Dave Hadfield
Wednesday 27 August 2008 00:00 BST
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Paul Sculthorpe has won his battle to play his first Wembley final on his way out of St Helens. The former Great Britain captain, plagued by injury for the past three seasons and not offered a contract for next year, was named yesterday in Saints' 19-man squad for Saturday's Challenge Cup final against Hull.

Although he will not finalise his team until later in the week, Saints' coach, Daniel Anderson, has promised that he will play.

That decision follows Sculthorpe coming safely through 80 minutes at Huddersfield on Sunday and is made easier by Jason Cayless's injury to knee ligaments that rules him out for the rest of the season.

The remaining doubt concerns Maurie Fa'asavalu, who has not trained or played since the semi-final and looks unlikely to play, possibly opening up an opportunity for Nick Fozzard.

Saints are to break with tradition by not taking their whole squad for the usual walkabout to familiarise themselves with Wembley the day before the match.

"It's not worth spending two and a half hours on a coach and it takes too much out of the day," said Anderson, who guided Saints to victory over the Catalan Dragons at the stadium a year ago.

"If anyone wants to go, we'll arrange it, but if there's a walkabout party it will be a very small one," Anderson said. The Rugby League said that it has no objection to Saints giving the event a miss.

"It's purely optional and a chance for players to accustom themselves to the ground," a spokesman said.

Hull, who are likely to have to rule out Motu Tony with a knee injury, will visit Wembley in the normal way. None of their squad have previously played there.

The Warrington captain, Adrian Morley, could miss the rest of the season after being charged with using his knees in a tackle in the defeat at Castleford on Sunday and will front a disciplinary hearing this evening.

Leeds have signed Brisbane's New Zealand back-rower, Greg Eastwood. The Rhinos are also standing by their contract with the Australian Test hooker, Danny Buderus, despite a ruptured biceps that will keep him out for six months.

Ben Cockayne has agreed a new, three-year deal with Hull KR, whilst Castleford have extended Liam Higgins's contract.

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