SAINTS have confirmed that scrum-half Matty Smith broke his leg in St Helens' pre-season friendly against Widnes.

Keiron Cunningham would not put a timescale on his length of absence, but said that he would be x-rayed again in four weeks time.

Smith suffered the break 39 minutes into his first appearance back at Saints but the club appear to have waited until the disciplinary process has taken its course before confirming the nature of the injury.

Cunningham said: "Matty has broke his leg and surgically had it repaired.

"It could be better but out of a bad job it's probably the best outcome for us. It's a clean break. We'll give him four weeks and then get him re-x-rayed and re-assessed and we'll hopefully get a time frame of where we're at then.

"It's hard to put a time on it because you don't know how he's going to respond to things. When you surgically fix things, you've got plates and nuts and bolts and all the things that can have an influence on how he recovers.

"The shorter time the better for us."

Widnes forward Manase Manuokafoa has been given a two-match ban for the tackle.

20-year-old Danny Richardson and new signing Tommy Lee played alongside Theo Fages in the halves during Saints' friendly against Castleford last Sunday and Cunningham indicated that he is likely to stick with that option for the opening league game against Leeds next Thursday rather than use traditional stand-in Jon Wilkin.

Cunningham added: "Jon is my plan Z.

"I've trained with Jon in a position all pre-season and I don't want to disrupt the flow of the side. We've still got a few sessions but we've got a good idea.

"It's disappointing but generally out of disappointment comes opportunity and we'll have a look at a different combination. At Saints we're used to adversity because we get plenty of it every year and we know how to adapt."