SAINTS coach Paul Wellens has issued a rallying call for the club’s fans to get behind the team for Sunday’s crunch Challenge Cup quarter-final tie against Warrington.

They host the Wolves in the last eight at the Totally Wicked Stadium, in what is Saints’ first home game in the cup in three years.

While the decline in attendances in the rugby league’s most historic competition has been a talking point, Wellens is hoping for a good turnout from the fans in what promises to be a keenly-fought tie.

“It does seem like a long time (since the last home cup game) and one thing I cannot fault is our support, they turn up both home and away and really get behind the team,” said Wellens.

“We’re really grateful for that and we hope we get a good following on Sunday in what is a knockout tie, a derby tie on top of that so it has the ingredients of a really good game and we’re certainly going to need our supporters in that.”

The Challenge Cup is a competition steeped in history and Saints have had their fair share of success as 13-time winners but in more recent times it has often been a prize that has eluded the club, with only one final win since 2008.

Wellens acknowledges the importance of the competition for the club, insisting the focus is very much on Sunday’s tie.

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“At the start of every year we want to be as successful as possible and the Challenge Cup is one of those opportunities to go and do that, it’s certainly something we’ve got our eye on and something we want to be competing for but what we can’t get too caught up in is thinking about semi-finals and finals,” he added.

“Our focus has got to be totally on Warrington and overcoming that challenge or we can forget semi-finals and finals so we won’t look any further than the weekend.”

Standing in Saints’ way of a place in the semi-finals is a rejuvenated Warrington side who have made a positive start to 2024 under new coach Sam Burgess.

St Helens Star: Jack Welsby and Saints are hoping for strong home support on Sunday against Warrington Jack Welsby and Saints are hoping for strong home support on Sunday against Warrington (Image: PA)

“They are playing well, they look like a really unified group, they’re working hard for each other. I think quite often a team represents what the coach is. Sam was one of those no-nonsense approach-type players, very hard-working, very disciplined and I think you see that in his team now and you have to add on to that some bits of quality.

“At the same time we’ve got a lot of confidence in ourselves.

“Generally, I’m very pleased with the team, the approach they’ve had in the last month. We’re all, the players, myself, we’re all disappointed with the result in Catalans, we felt we didn’t quite get a number of things right which led to the result not being favourable. However, what I can’t fault in the playing group is their effort and their application over that month. We’ve had four very tough games, very intense games, and all players have handled that really well, apart from the Catalans game where we dropped our standards slightly.”

Hooker Daryl Clark will go up against his former club for the first time in a Saints shirt and it is a match the team is excited for.

“I’ve not spoken specifically to Daz about it but I’m sure he’s excited for the game, and all the playing group are,” added Wellens.

“When you lose a game I think what this playing group want more than anything is to get back out there and try and put things right.

“We know that’s going to come with its challenges with Warrington and their qualities they possess but one we’re excited about. We’re excited about Sunday, we’re excited about the game and we’re really looking forward to it.”