Sculthorpe's final fling at Wembley

St Helens // Paul Sculthorpe is determined to make the most of the build-up to Saturday's Carnegie Challenge Cup final after getting the nod from the St Helens coach Daniel Anderson to make his first appearance at Wembley. The loose forward, 30, captained the Saints to their 32-16 win over Wigan at the Millennium Stadium in 2004 and was a member of the side that beat Huddersfield at Twickenham two years later.

But he missed their win over Catalans Dragons at the new Wembley a year ago with an Achilles tendon rupture and, after failing to appear in any of the four rounds of the cup so far this year because of various injuries, was in serious doubt for Saturday's duel with Hull. He proved his fitness by playing the full 80 minutes of Sunday's 40-22 Super League win at Huddersfield and has been told by Anderson that he will be in the cup final line-up. Sculthorpe had missed three of St Helens' previous four matches with a hamstring problem but spent the entire match on the pitch at the Galpharm Stadium, largely due to the loss of the front-row forward Jason Cayless after only five minutes.

"It has been a while since I played 80 minutes but it was good to get a run-out," he said. "Daniel said he was going to play me for 60 minutes but we picked up injuries and I felt good out there. It was a good time to get some minutes under the belt. "I'm fit. When you're not playing, you train harder. Daniel had spoken to me about being available for Wembley and it was up to me to get through the game and I've done that."

Sculthorpe is in his 10th and final season with the club after they decided not to renew his contract. * PA Sport