Saints V Wigan is a derby like no other for outsider Louie (From St Helens Star)

Saints V Wigan is a derby like no other for outsider Louie

2:32pm Wednesday 5th September 2012 in Latest News By Mike Critchley

PACY prop Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook may be an outsider from South London, but even he knows that there is little to top the intense rivalry that makes up a Saints v Wigan game.

That rivalry occasionally boils over – and he was on the front line last time around when he face-off with Gareth Hock, which he describes as “handbags”, ended up sparking a punch-up that saw three men red-carded.

That defeat at the Manchester Magic event was Saints third – and by far the worst - defeat of the year against the table-toppers, but the 26-year-old front rower is confident that they can get one over their rivals before the year is out.

McCarthy-Scarsbrook said: “Hopefully we can break our duck. We are going into the game in some good form the last couple of weeks. As a team we are fired up and ready to go.

“Last year we had a draw and a couple of losses and went into the play-offs and beat them twice. Hopefully we can beat them and put a dampener on their final game at home, which would be nice.”

Should Saints lose, they will have to return to the DW next week and then possibly face the Warriors for a sixth time a fortnight later. But despite that, he does not believe either side will be holding much back in advance of the games to come.

“As a club we want to finish as high as we can. I don’t think we went to play them six times – it is getting a bit ridiculous now.

“But it is a great atmosphere when you do play them – the electricity around both towns is amazing.

“We are going out there to win –Wigan will be the same.

“It is one of the best derbies in sport. The eeriness beforehand is something else – there is a silence that descends just before Wello speaks because we know we are going out there and it going to be war,” he said.