Sculthorpe eager to lead Saints and Britain

Paul Sculthorpe says he wants the job as St Helens' next captain - and after that, he wants to lead Great Britain.

Saints' most successful captain ever, Chris Joynt, is standing down to concentrate on his own game and Sculthorpe makes no secret of wanting to succeed him.

"I definitely want the job," he said. "It has always been a target of mine, along with captaining Great Britain."

The Saints coach, Ian Millward, says he has not yet made up his mind about the appointment. "It would be easy to say that we should give it to Paul, but we have three other players on long-term contracts - Sean Long, Keiron Cunningham and Paul Wellens - and I want to talk to all of them before making a decision," he said.

Sculthorpe has also tipped the club's two new Samoan signings, Dom Feaunati and Maurie Fa'asavalu, to make a big impact in their first season in the game. "They've got good ball skills, pace and size," he said. "They did well in the friendly at Barrow and you can teach them things like tactics and positioning."

Hull's new signings, Richard Whiting and Andy Bailey, will make their debuts against their old club in a friendly at Featherstone on Sunday.

Castleford and Wigan have had their warm-weather training camps in Cyprus disrupted by torrential rain and rough seas. The pitch where Wigan had been hoping to do their ball work has been inundated by freak waves.

The chief executive of Leeds, Gary Hetherington, has been elected as the president of the Rugby League. The annual meeting of the game's council yesterday also heard that the debt from the 2000 World Cup has been cleared.

* Warrington will play a testimonial match for the full-back Lee Penny against Cambridge University at Wilderspool on Saturday 7 February. Penny, who was released by the Wolves at the end of last season, will play in the Warrington side.