Wellens up for the cup

Anthony Laffranchi: Will play no part in Friday's Challenge Cup clash with Oldham

Paul Wellens: Insists St Helens are determined to win the Challenge Cup this season

St Helens full-back Paul Wellens insists the Stobart Super League club are determined to go all the way in the Carnegie Challenge Cup this season.

Saints won the trophy for three consecutive seasons until 2008, but have failed to reach the final since.

Mike Rush's side take on rank outsiders Oldham Roughyeds in the fifth round on Friday and Wellens has stated the cup remains important to the club.

Important

"The cup is always important for me and this club," he told the St Helens Star. "We have a fantastic record and want to win it this year.

"It is never easy - you have to beat some very good sides along the way but that is something we are prepared to do and invest all our energies into doing."

Oldham are the last remaining Championship One side left in the competition and Wellens remembers watching the club when he was growing up.

"It is a really good cup tie - Oldham is a fantastic rugby league town. I remember watching Saints v Oldham cup ties at the Watersheddings with my dad when I was growing up," he added.

"Saints have had quite a bit of an Oldham connection too - signing Tommy Martyn and Chris Joynt from there, and it is also where Mark Flanagan and Scully come from.

"Oldham churn out a lot of players and that is a credit to the youth structure with the amateur clubs. It is just a shame that they have been ignored a bit and left to fend for themselves whereas other clubs have had clearly had more support."

Laffranchi missing

St Helens are without Australian prop Anthony Laffranchi but are otherwise close to full strength.

Tommy Makinson returns in place of teenage winger Adam Swift and Rush is poised to give debuts to youngsters Anthony Walker and Joe Greenwood.

"We had people watching at the weekend and we know a little bit about them," said Rush. "They aren't going to lie down. We'll show them the respect they deserve."

Oldham are set to give a debut to former Wigan reserve second rower Jamie Acton, who is also a cage fighter, against St Helens at Langtree Park.

The 19-year-old Londoner has been called up following the loss through injury of regular second-row pair Paul Noone and Paul Smith.

Kenyan winger Lucas Onyango has also failed a fitness test and coach Tony Benson has decided not to risk 36-year-old stand-off Graham Holroyd after he picked up an ankle knock on debut at London Skolars on Sunday.

St Helens squad: Wellens, Shenton, Soliola, Meli, Hohaia, Lomax, Roby, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Flannery, Flanagan, Clough, Magennis, Dixon, Gaskell, Makinson, Forster, Jones, Greenwood, Walker.

Oldham squad: Greenwood, Brocklehurst, Cookson, Fogarty, Robinson, Whitmore, Dallimore, Clarke, Roden, Boults, Ward, McCully, Bentley, Ellison, Syron, Thompson, Acton, Gilchrist, Johnson.

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