SAINTS know they are in for a tough derby clash on Friday night when they tackle a Widnes Viking side in buoyant mood after completing a league double over champions Leeds.

Although Widnes have more or less secured a top eight berth, they are still not mathematically safe and will make the short trip down the St Helens Linkway in good spirit after their recent encounters.

And there are players in the Widnes ranks who Saints boss Keiron Cunningham will be keeping a particular eye on - expressing an admiration for the ever-improving Welsh hooker Lloyd White.

Cunningham said: “Confidence is high with Widnes. They are playing exceptionally well, but that has been off the back of what Lloyd White and Aaron Heremaia have been doing. That combination of hookers is the best in Super League at the minute.

“Widnes are a good front foot team. The big fellas go forward, chuck White and Hanbury in there with Kevin Brown pulling the strings and Joe Mellor, and they are tough to play against.”

Welshman White has improved year on year since joining Vikings from Crusaders.

Cunningham said: “I am a nine and always work closely with nines.

“And I back myself at being a good nines coach. I’d like to work with Lloyd White because I think I could make him a better nine, but he is learning lots of stuff himself and you can see where his game has gone over previous three or four years.”

With Heremaia concussed from last week’s win at Headingley, Widnes will have a different partnership going from dummy half.

But with Saints’ nine James Roby going well off the back of some good go-forward, it could be quite a duel.

And for all Widnes’ 1, 6, 7 and 9 going well Saints are on a good run themselves as they seek to carry on winning to keep alive their hopes of making the top four.

Cunningham continued: “We have got to do the right things and are capable of beating anyone.

“We played against Widnes earlier this year and they were missing Kev (Brown) but it was still a tough game for us.

“We have got to be good on Friday and better defensively than we were at Wakefield, but keep going with our attack.

“It is important for both teams, we need to chase the top four down.

“There is no better game to play than against a team that is in form.

“There will be plenty of Widnes fans there and they will be expecting them to do a job.”