St Helens boosted by return of Lachlan Coote

Correspondent

Lachlan Coote is set to return for Saints this week

Lachlan Coote will return for St Helens when they host Leeds in the Betfred Challenge Cup on Saturday.

The Scotland international is back in the team after sitting out the opening two rounds of Super League and coach Kristian Woolf is also confident of having England centre Mark Percival back from injury.

Woolf said: “We want our best 17 on the field. We’ve been cautious with Coots over the last two weeks but he will definitely will play this week, there’s no doubt there.”

Leeds’ new signing Kyle Eastmond could make his Leeds debut against his old club in Saturday’s third-round tie at St Helens.

The 31-year-old dual-code international, who has joined the Rhinos on a two-year contract, was left out of their opening two Super League games to give him more time to readjust to his new surroundings.

Leeds coach Richard Agar was keeping his team selection close to his chest during a joint press conference on Tuesday afternoon, but hinted that Eastmond is ready to play.

Agar said: “I would have no problems putting him in. We’ll have a look at the state of our team later in the week and make some calls.”

Eastmond spent the first four years of his professional career with Saints and scored all their points in their 18-10 defeat by Leeds in the 2009 Grand Final at Old Trafford before moving into rugby union two years later, where he played for Bath, Wasps, Leicester and England.

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