SAINTS have been blessed with some real flying wingmen over the years – and have scoured the world to bring over Flying Springboks Tom van Vollenhoven and Jan Prinsloo, Australians like Darren Albert, and Welshman from Roy Mathias to Regan Grace.

But a pair of home grown speedsters wore the Saints number 2 jersey with distinction and brightened up many an afternoon at Knowsley Road.

Les Jones, who was a prolific wing in a career spanning 1967 -81, passed on the baton to Barry Ledger, who graced the flanks from 1982-88.

The pair, who have 699 Saints first team appearances and 395 tries between them, managed to catch up on one of the recent regular former players walks around Carr Mill Dam organised Neil Holding.

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Les Jones’ career spanned three decades after joining the Knowsley Road club from Parr Juniors and set the tone with his debut try against Wigan in March 1967 and touched down the day after against Whitehaven.

The flame-haired flankman, with a penchant for the interception, would go on to chalk up a phenomenal 283 tries from 485 appearances in the red vee spanning 1967-1981.

Second only to the legendary Tom van Vollenhoven in the club's all-time try charts, Jones had to bide his time in his first year with Voll still on one wing and Len Killeen on the other.

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But once he nailed down his spot, there was no stopping him. And with some excellent service from his centre Billy Benyon, Jonah rattled in 33 and then 39 tries respectively during the 1970 and 1971 Championship winning seasons.

The first of his two Wembley wins followed in 1972, with his blistering 80m dash in the Dad's Army team of 76 creating the platform for Peter Glynn's second match-clincher.

Jones won the lot with Saints - and collected county and England caps in the 70s.

With him on one wing and Roy Mathias on the other, Saints were truly blessed on the flanks.

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Taking over the season Jones hung up his boots was Barry Ledger zipped in for 112 from 218 outings in the red vee after making his first team debut on 3 March 1982, going on to earn caps for Lancashire and Great Britain in his time at Saints.

Not the biggest of wingmen, Ledger relied on speed, evasion, side-step, positional sense and an ability to find the try line.

He could also kick and chase too, often gathering the ball and touching down.

Nothing summed up Ledger's attributes more than a length of the field score at Belle Vue in 1984, swerve, eye for the opening and then sheer speed on one of the longest pitches in the rugby league.

In Ledger's first full season of 1982/83 he crossed the whitewash 14 times and he consolidated his position there, proving to be Saints' most prolific wingman since Les Jones and Roy Mathias' departures.

Ledger's best season with Saints was the Mal Meninga year - even though he was playing on the other side of the field to the man. Ledger, son of former Saints wing Eric, waltzed in for 30 tries that year and won his first medals.

The Lancashire Cup was first and then he grabbed a brace in the Premiership Final win over Hull KR.