St Helens vs Leeds Rhinos Prediction: Head rules heart for Sculthorpe

St Helens entertain the in-form Leeds Rhinos, who've won their last five Betfred Super League matches, at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday night (20:00, live on Sky Sports Action).

Saints legend Paul Sculthorpe shares his thoughts on the latest goings on at the club, plus his St Helens vs Leeds Rhinos prediction.

As Paul Wellens said immediately after the demolition of Salford, nobody is going to read anything into that result.

St Helens saw off the sorry Red Devils by 46-4 on Sunday, in what was always going to be a one-sided affair.

You have to feel for Paul Rowley, who continues to try and be positive despite the obvious challenges and disruptions this season.

Saints wasted no time in stamping their authority on the game, with Curtis Sironen cruising in under the posts after just two minutes. Six minutes later, the returning Kyle Feldt scored his first of four tries, in his first game back after 10 weeks out with a hand injury. Alex Walmsley, who I think has been in great form of late, soon made it 14-0 with just 12 minutes on the clock.

Unfortunately, Saints are starting to show horrendous luck with injuries again. This week, they were missing Welsby, Percival and Murphy, then Sironen was forced to leave the field against Salford at the 25-minute mark. Joe Batchelor picked up a calf injury and George Whitby failed a HIA, which means he'll miss Friday's tough tie with Leeds Rhinos.

It’s the start of a very important period for the Saints if we are to secure a place in the play-offs and remain the only team to do so throughout the entire Super League era.

This next month sees us face the Rhinos twice, Hull FC and Leigh Leopards - all four teams between 3rd and 6th in the table at time of writing.

Leeds are a much-improved side under Brad Arthur. Jake Connor is their key man, at the heart of everything in attack. Saints need to put him under severe pressure and upset him. Two other players to look out for are full-back Lachie Miller and NRL-bound Morgan Gannon.

Saints must be clinical in defence and show that aggressive line speed we know they have. The key is to be selective and smart on the edge, because Leeds will test them. Going forward, we have to play tough down the middle and create space to turn pressure into points. Let’s see some of that ball movement we saw at Salford.

I of course hope I'm wrong, but with the current injury situation at Saints, and Leeds coming off a dominating win against Warrington, I find it hard to see past a Leeds victory.

In other news, I was absolutely delighted to see one of the sport's true greats receive the highest honour from HRH King Charles in his birthday honours announcement.

Arise, Sir Billy Boston!

I’ve had the great pleasure of knowing Billy over my career, and what a gentleman he is. I obviously never saw Billy ply his trade, but 478 tries in 488 matches for Wigan says it all.

The Cardiff-born, dual-code hero is the first and only person in rugby league's 130-year history to be knighted, and it couldn’t have been more deserving.

Unfortunately, Billy now suffers with dementia and won’t fully appreciate his achievement - although his face during the ceremony says otherwise!

His son Stephen spoke to the press about how he wishes it came 10 years ago, so he really understood the impact he had on the sport and those associated with it.

Congratulations, Sir Billy.

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