SOUTH Sydney may have Hollywood actor Russell Crowe jetting in as their high profile supporter for next month’s World Club Challenge, but Saints very own star fan Johnny Vegas won’t be shy of cranking up the pressure before the big game.

Crowe, who has appeared in films such as Gladiator and Noah, appears to have accepted an invitation to come to St Helens for the clash between Saints and South Sydney Rabbitohs at Langtree Park.

He is co-owner of Souths and responded to a tweet from Saints supporter Chris Lamb, who asked: “Are you coming to St Helens Russell?” by replying “Indeed”.

Later Crowe, who has 1.6 million Twitter followers on Twitter, wrote: “Aiming to be in St Helens for the WCC, will fans of other English Super League teams don the red and green and turn up for South Sydney?”

But Vegas, who once donned the red vee at Knowsley Road for a testimonial match, responded via Twitter: “Ooh @ukrabbitohs a rabbit punch eh? Woolybacks knitted from steel lads and the @Saints1890 fans are partial to rabbit stew.”

Vegas later added: “Wonder if South Sydney fans are buzzing that the PG Tips bloke might be at Langtree Park for the World Club Challenge?”

Meanwhile, Saints, who launch the defence of their Super League crown on Friday, February 6, are confident of drawing a capacity 18,000 crowd to Langtree Park for the visit of by the Rabbitohs, with just 2,000 tickets left on sale Saints chief executive Mike Rush said Crowe’s announcement had added to the excitement: “We’ve not heard anything but we’’d be delighted to welcome Russell Crowe to our club.

“He is a massive rugby league fan and, by tweeting his support for this game, he is demonstrating what a prestigious fixture it is.”