SAINTS will be hoping for history to repeat itself when they tackle World Club Champions Leeds on Friday night.

This time last term Bradford Bulls were riding on the crest of a wave after taking the world crown, only for Saints to bring them crashing back down to earth with a bump.

But Leeds, whose 14 match unbeaten run stretches back to June, have had it over Saints at Headingley in recent seasons and their bandwagon will be harder to derail.

Long-term injuries force Saints coach Ian Millward to name the same panel as last week for the trip to Leeds, and is looking forward to the encounter.

He said: "I am not worried about them being World Club Champions - that could be a daunting prospect if we thought about that too much.

"We are just looking forward to going there and playing in front of a full house. We beat them enough times last year, but they are playing with a lot of confidence because they are World Champs. But we are happy with the way we are progressing."

Although Saints put 56 points on Leeds at home last season and knocked them out of the Challenge Cup, the enduring memory of last term was having 70 unanswered points piled on them at Headingley.

Players, coaching staff and fans will be keen to wipe that particular slate clean as Saints aim to take their first top six scalp since May.

Saints: Wellens; Gardner, Talau, Lyon, Albert; Wilkin, Long; Fozzard, Higham/Cunningham, Anderson, Graham, Gilmour, Sculthorpe; Hardman, Roby, Edmondson, Bennett.

Meanwhile Millward revealed that industrious Aussie half back Jason Hooper had suffered a setback in his recovery bid from knee surgery, and was due to see a specialist on Monday.

He is expected to remain on the sidelines for a further four to six weeks.

The Saints boss poured cold water on the rumours linking skipper Paul Sculthorpe with a move to Wigan, should Andy Farrell accept the lucrative deal to wind down his career in rugby union.

"There is no chance of Paul Sculthorpe leaving. The club was approached last year by a club - not Wigan - and the answer then was, 'No. Paul is never available at any price.'

"He has two years to go, is very happy here and on top of that why would you let someone go to your biggest derby rival? It is not an issue with me, the chairman or Scully," Millward said.