Sports

Saints' Percival could play in World Club Challenge as surgery delayed


England international Mark Percival signed a new five-year deal with St Helens last week
World Club Challenge
Venue: Totally Wicked Stadium Date: Saturday, 22 February Kick-off: 19:45 GMT Coverage: Updates on BBC local radio and live scores on the BBC Sport website

St Helens centre Mark Percival could play in their World Club Challenge match against Sydney Roosters despite being ruled out for “several months” with a shoulder injury last week.

The 25-year-old suffered the injury in their 19-0 defeat by Warrington.

Percival was set to have surgery but it has been put back to next week to allow him to feature in Saturday’s game.

“We wouldn’t put him out there if we thought we were putting his health at risk,” Saints boss Kristian Woolf said.

Speaking at a pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Woolf continued: “We put him through a little bit of contact today to see how he holds up and he held up quite well.

“We’re just going to see how he pulls up tomorrow and go from there.”

St Helens will have captain James Roby back for the visit of the Roosters after he missed the opening three matches of the Super League season with a groin injury.

Meanwhile, winger Regan Grace misses out on selection after he sustained a concussion in their win against Hull FC with Matty Costello taking his place..

The Roosters will be without captain Boyd Cordner with Jake Friend stepping up to skipper the side as they aim to win a record-equalling fourth World Club Challenge title.

“Boyd probably has the greatest workload in the NRL when it comes to not only captaining the club with Jake but captaining New South Wales and Australia,” Roosters coach Trent Robinson said.

“He’s played lots of games and plays a physical style of footy and to prepare him for this season, for New South Wales and then the [Kangaroos] tour at the end of the year, he needs to have some pre-season time.”

It is the second successive season the Roosters will feature in the final, having beaten Wigan last year, and their 21-man squad contains 14 players who featured in their NRL Grand Final win against Canberra Raiders.

St Helens (from): Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Lomax, Fages, Walmsley, Roby, Thompson, Taia, Peyroux, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Knowles, Lees, Amor, Paulo, Smith, Bentley, Costello, Welsby, Dodd, Nisbet.

Sydney Roosters (from): Tedesco, Tupou, Crichton, Manu, Morris, Keary, Flanagan, Waerea-Hargreaves, Friend, Taukeiaho, Tupouniua, Aubusson, Radley, Verrills, Liu, Butcher, Collins, Ikuvalu, Faamausili, Kepaoa, Lam.



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