St Helens move friendly away from Totally Wicked Stadium

St Helens have been forced to move their pre-season friendly against Sheffield to the 450-capacity Ruskin Sports Village in the town.

The pitch at the Totally Wicked Stadium, which has been relaid over the close season, will not be ready in time to host the scheduled fixture next weekend.

It will instead be played at Ruskin Drive, a council owned facility with an RFL certified artificial pitch which also hosts Saints reserves games, with kick-off at 3.30pm on Saturday January 20.

Saints CEO Mike Rush said: “We’ve invested a significant amount in a new pitch at the Totally Wicked Stadium ahead of the new campaign – but with three games scheduled in short space of time we contacted the council to see if we could move the game in order to protect the pitch.

“They agreed to this and we thank them and Sheffield Eagles for their assistance and the fans for their understanding.

“Because of the capacity it is highly unlikely, at this stage, that further tickets will be made available.”

St Helens are due to play Leigh at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday January 26, before hosting Castleford in their opening Super League game of the season a week later.