A FRACTURED finger was not going to stop Haydock’s Danny Gee from joining St Helens’ five-strong representation on the recent North West English Lionhearts two-match tour to Canada.

The long-serving Haydock back rower sustained the injury three weeks before he was due to fly out on his first overseas tour, but after all the hard work his friends and club supporters had done in raising money for his trip there was no way he was going to miss it.

Gee joined Haydock teammate Jordan Gibson, Thatto Heath’s Ben Roberts and Liam Quinn and Clock Face’s Martin Norton on tour to rugby league’s latest expansion area.

And the two Yickers had a productive test match against the Canadian Wolverines, coming up with 26 of the team’s 38 points, scoring a brace of tries each with man of the match Gibson banging over five goals.

Quinn and Norton also scored in a match against a physical Wolverines side that was closer than the final margin suggests.

Gee enjoyed the experience — his first international trip after playing Haydock continuously for 20 years since joining the under 11s.

Gee said: “Although I fractured my finger playing against West Bank not long before I went, there was no way I was missing the tour.

“I had to take three weeks off my job, driving wagons for the Co-op, and missed a few league games but I just strapped it up.

“Despite going through the pain barrier I couldn’t have not gone, especially after they had raised the money for us to go.

“It was my first tour – I have played for Lancashire, NW Counties and St Helens Schools but nothing like this before.

“It was a massive effort from everyone at Haydock raising that amount of money — £3,500 — and received really good support across town too.”

The Lionhearts side was drawn from North West Counties Men’s League players — and for eight days club rivalries were put aside to get the job done against Canada’s national side.

“We were all there to do a job. Although we were all from different clubs I have known a lot of the lads in the team a long time – having been at Haydock for 20 years.

“You get club rivalries, but we all played as a team and stuck together,” he said.

The tour gave an illustration of Canada’s appetite for rugby league — with the country fielding the Toronto Wolfpack in next year’s Championship 1.

The ambitious Wolfpack have already signed ex-Saints Gary Wheeler and Andrew Dixon.

Gee said: “We played at the ground where the Toronto Wolfpack are going to play and the bloke on the tannoy was really geeing them up.

“When we were out there we got a good reception.

“A lot of the people we spoke to came to the game.

“I hope Toronto do well because they had good support there when we went and they have signed some good players.

“It is rough and ready and I think the Canadians will like that.

“They are always big and aggressive with the physical sports like ice hockey and American football,” Gee said.