St Hilaire lift for Oldham

OLDHAM Roughyeds have been handed a major boost in their hour of need by the news that influential centre Marcus St Hilaire could be playing again soon.

The 33-year-old former Leeds and Bradford star injured his back in a game against Gateshead Thunder at Sedgley Park on April 24, leading to worries that he may not play again this season — or even ever again.

But a scan has revealed that St Hilaire’s injury is not serious and the club’s medical staff will now try to get him ready for action once again.

“Injuries to back or spine are always worrying when you don’t know their full extent, but happily we have now got the results of a scan and the problem is nothing too serious,” said Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton.

“Marcus has suffered a tissue injury which, put in simple terms, has been described to us as ‘similar to a dead leg, but in the back’. The news will come as a huge relief to the player, just as it did to the club.

“It is impossible to say when Marcus will be back in action. That will depend on how the injury responds to treatment.”

St Hilaire has been badly missed in the last few games, as have stand-off Neil Roden and loose-forward Valu Bentley.

Bentley suffered a recurrence of an early-season collar-bone injury at South Wales Scorpions on April 11, but it isn’t yet known how far he is away from making a comeback.

Roden broke a toe at Doncaster three weeks ago and he has missed the three games since, all of them at Whitebank.

He might have an outside chance of starting his comeback at Workington on Sunday, but that won’t be known until later in the week.

Roughyeds, meanwhile, were hugely encouraged once again by the attendance of 1,004 at the Whitebank Stadium last Sunday for the game against Hunslet Hawks, who stunned Tony Benson’s men by running in 11 tries in a 60-4 victory.

It was more than double the gate at each of the other four Championship One games and it was also bigger than the crowd at the Championship game between Whitehaven and Leigh in Cumbria, which was given on the RFL’s official website as 912.

“We are very pleased at the attendances we are getting at Whitebank,” said Hamilton. “And on behalf of the club I would like to thank everyone for getting behind us in our ongoing adventure at our new ground.”

Oldham’s reserves play at Whitebank again on the next three Saturdays against York (May 29), Hunslet (June 5) and Sheffield Eagles (June 12), all kicking off at 3pm.

The next first-team game there is a top-three clash against unbeaten Blackpool Panthers a week on Sunday, June 6.