Super League Previews – St Helens welcome back Eastmond
Friday night will mark the return of Kyle Eastmond to the St Helens side, as the England international will return from injury for the Super League clash with Bradford.
The England scrum-half has played in just one of his club's last 10 games due to an ankle injury. The news will come as a major boost for club and country, with England preparing for the end-of-season Four Nations championship and St Helens looking to bounce back from their 32-28 Challenge Cup semi-final defeat against arch-rivals Leeds Rhinos last weekend.
Saints boss, Mick Potter, who will take up the reins at Bradford at the end of the season, is also able to call upon Andy Dixon, who has recovered from rib cartilage damage. However, influential stand-off Leon Price and forward Paul Clough will miss the clash, with a neck injury and a shoulder problem respectively.
Things couldn’t get much worse at Bradford currently. It’s been 11 games since the Bulls registered a victory as their season continues to end with a whimper. They have been given a boost ahead of this week’s clash with the news that Brett Kearney, Nick Scruton and Jason Crookes have all been included by caretaker coach Lee St Hilaire in his 19-man squad.
The reverse fixture between the sides finished with St Helens easing to a 38-6 victory over the Bulls, and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see St Hilaire’s side win-less run stretched to 12 games come Friday evening.
The Castleford Tigers sit only two points off the final play-off spot and they will be looking to bridge that gap on Friday as they take on fifth-placed Leeds at The Jungle. Coach Terry Matterson has named the same squad that were narrowly beaten 28-26 by Hull KR last weekend and believes the chase for eighth place is very much still on for his troops.
Matterson told the club’s official website: "Obviously we were hoping that Harlequins might have done us a favour last Friday, but it wasn't to be, but we have all played the same number of games now so we know where we stand. Both Crusaders and ourselves have tough run-ins, and I'm not ruling out Wakefield or Bradford. Crusaders have a two-point advantage but we do have a better points difference at present should that come into play, but at present all we can do is focus on ourselves and Friday is obviously a big challenge.”
Ali Lauitiiti could be set to make his comeback from injury for the Rhinos but they will be without Danny Buderus and Ryan Bailey who suffered injuries in last week's dramatic Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final win over St Helens. Scott Donald and Ian Kirke have been called up as replacements for the two players who played a huge role in the semi-final truimph.
The form team in the Super League currently are the Crusaders, who are looking for their fifth win on the trot against Hull in Friday’s third game. Coach Brian Noble has named an unchanged 19-man squad as they look to continue their charge up the table towards the play-off places. Gareth Thomas is still making his recovery from a groin strain and is targeting a comeback against St Helens at the Racecourse Ground Saturday week.
Hull are without the injured pairing of Richard Horne and Danny Nicklas and they have been replaced in the 19-man squad by Craig Hall and Mike Burnett.
England international and drop goal specialist Sean Long is still unavailable for the hosts but is set to return to the Black and Whites squad within the next two weeks.
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