AS Paul Wellens looks ahead to his first Good Friday in charge of the Saints, he knows only too well the emotions that can be stirred in the most fiercely contested of local rivalries.

As a dyed-in-the-wool St Helener, he has never needed any nudges in the street or reminders of the importance of beating Wigan – all of that came from an early age from a rugby league-devoted family.

Wellens was just five years old when his brother Kevin came off the bench in Saints’ 1985 Good Friday win over a Cherry and White side featuring Kangaroos superstar Brett Kenny at a muddy Central Park.

Fast forward 12 years and Wellens’ Saints debut came at scrum half in the 1997 Boxing Day friendly on the same ground.

Wellens would go on to feature in 15 Easter tussles - winning seven and drawing two.

As fate would have it, the legendary full back’s 495th and final senior Saints appearance came in the 2015 Good Friday clash at the DW Stadium – with a then 35-year-old Wellens trying to play through the pain barrier to help a struggling team out despite suffering a debilitating hip injury.

Those among the 24,054 crowd watching that keenly-fought 12-4 defeat on that drizzly day will have watched Wellens gingerly leave the park in excruciating agony at the start of the second half.

The fact that he stayed out there as long as he did was as good an indicator as any of the significance of this fixture – particularly to Wellens himself.

Wellens explains: “I had a degenerative condition and ended up having a hip operation, but I tried to promote myself to play because I realised the importance of the game and what it means to everybody.

“Early on in the game, I didn't feel too bad, but as the game went on it got worse and worse and worse to the point where I could hardly walk, never mind run.

“When I when I left the field that day, in the pit of my stomach, I realised that that could be me done because I'd exhausted nearly every avenue possible trying to get myself fit.

“At the same time I was putting myself back out on the field to try and help the team because I felt like my teammates needed me and I didn't want to let them down.

“But ultimately there's only so much you can do and I had to obviously make the sensible call, even though it didn't sit well with me at the time.”

Wellens says he would have put his hand up to play had it been any other game but probably would accepted the game was up earlier had it been anyone else but Wigan.

“I probably would have made the decision a lot earlier,” he said.

“I remember Matty Smith was playing for Wigan at the time and he basically shouted to me just at the start of the second half ‘what the hell are you doing?’

“It was kind of a funny moment, but at the same time, he was probably right.

“If anything, if had stayed out on the field any longer, I would have been more of a hindrance than a help.”

Seven years on, Wellens has worked his way up the coaching ladder – learning the tricks of the trade under Justin Holbrook and Kristian Woolf and on Friday he leads his team across the lump for the most important derby in British rugby league.