Paul Rowley won’t give away ‘sacred’ St Helens shirt with youngsters ready to shine

St Helens will turn to their youth when they face Toulouse Olympique today as Paul Rowley prepares to throw kids in at the deep end.

With 13 senior players unavailable, St Helens are down to the bare bones and it has seen them name four academy players in their matchday squad who don’t even have squad numbers.

Historically, that is something Saints have done successfully for decades, and in adversity, more will get a chance to shine once again.

But Rowley insists despite that, only those worthy will be given the jersey as Saints continue in their battle to make the play-offs.

“The kids over there are all good young men who are willing to make the sacrifices. Because what you don’t want to do is we won’t give a Saints shirt away. You’ve got to earn that shirt.

“You know, a heritage number is a really sacred thing. So, you’ve got to earn it.”

On the prospect of handing out more debuts, Rowley added: “I can’t wait. I really can’t wait. And I’m confident that they’re ready.

“If we had our frontliners, they wouldn’t be getting this opportunity. But they are. So, this is where you find out.

“So, for them, I think the important bit is that they don’t approach it with, oh, we’re just filling in. They’ve been selected because they’re the best underneath the players that have played. So, they’ve been selected via performance in training and performance in, whether it be reserves or being out on loan.

“So, they’re here by merit and a little bit of good fortune in terms of other people getting injuries. We all start our journeys and our careers in whatever walk of life. We need a little bit of luck.

“We’ve seen already this season when somebody gets there with a little bit of good fortune, like Jake Davies, then sometimes people perform and actually become more comfortable on the big stage than they do, whether it be in reserves or champ. So, we’ll see.”