St Helens v Hull: Teams

At Knowsley Road, Friday March 7, kick-off 7.30pm

Last updated: 4th March 2008

St Helens v Hull: Teams

Yeaman: Ready to return

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Scrum-half Matty Smith will make his first appearance of the season on Friday night when injury-hit St Helens host Hull FC.

The 20-year-old will take over from Sean Long, who picked up a knee injury in last Sunday's 34-30 victory over Wakefield.

Long, who is expected to be out for three to four weeks, is just the latest casualty for Saints coach Daniel Anderson.

Forwards Nick Fozzard, Jason Cayless, Maurie Fa'asavalu, Jon Wilkin and Chris Flannery are all currently sidelined.

Sculthorpe doubtful

Things could get even worse in the pack if Paul Sculthorpe is not passed fit to play. He is rated as a '50-50' chance.

Saints' skipper made his comeback from a ruptured Achilles last month but played only half an hour of the win over the Wildcats.

"My legs tightened up a bit," Sculthorpe said. "It wasn't the reason I came off but it was the reason I stayed off. It was only my second game in eight months.

"The injuries are fine. It's just a matter of getting back into it and, hopefully, I'll be fine for Friday.

"They were looking to bring me off the bench for the first three or four games like last time but injuries have forced them to do otherwise so I'm probably doing more at the moment than I should have been."

Gary Wheeler, an 18-year-old member of Saints' academy, is in contention to play after being named in Anderson's 20-man squad.

Yeaman boost

Visitors Hull are hardly at full strength themselves with Ewan Dowes now joining their lengthy casualty list.

The prop suffered knee ligament damage in last weekend's loss to Huddersfield, meaning coach Peter Sharp is without both his first-choice front-rowers, as Garreth Carvell is also ruled out.

Richard Horne is another major absentee, while hooker Shaun Berrigan, who had been filling in at scrum-half, has not recovered from an arm injury picked up during a training session with Melbourne Storm.

However, there is some good news for the Black and Whites with Kirk Yeaman set to make his first appearance of the campaign.

The Great Britain international has recovered from a hyper-extension of the elbow to take his place in a 19-man squad.

St. Helens squad: Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Talau, Meli, Pryce, Cunningham, Gilmour, Sculthorpe, Roby, Bennett, Graham, Hargreaves, Smith, Clough, Tyrer, Eastmond, Wheeler, Frodsham, Dean.

Hull FC squad: Byrne, Briscoe, Burnett, Cusack, Dale, Dykes, Houghton, G. Horne, Hall, King, Lee, Raynor, Radford, Sing, Tony, Tickle, Washbrook, Wheeldon, Yeaman.