MY old mate Paul Sculthorpe's decision to retire from international rugby league is a big blow for Great Britain because he is up there with the best.

Scully has been one of the stand-out performers at international level, he has given great service and he will be sorely missed.

I fully understand his decision and everyone will respect it but it just goes to show what a wonderful character he is to call time on his international career in order to prolong his club career.

In recent years, Scully has some terrible luck with injury but he has always been a great leader, a fine team-mate but an extremely tough opponent to play against.

He is deceptively strong, has all the skills and is the complete package.

We'll miss him in the GB set-up but nothing can take away what he has done for his country.

French tears

They say never bet against Wigan in a cup tie. And I can't for the life of me see Brian Noble's team losing to Les Catalans in Sunday's Challenge Cup semi-final and I think the Warriors fans can start making plans for a trip to Wembley in August.

The French have nothing to lose, they have quality players such as Stacey Jones , but I just feel a Wigan side with Trent Barrett in it will have too much strength, class and know-how.

Now the other semi-final between Saints and Bradford is a totally different ball game.

Bradford gained a big psychological boost the other week when they beat Saints in atrocious conditions but the men from Knowsley Road know how to win big cup games and all their eggs will be in one basket.

They have so many match winners but I must single out this young fellow James Roby who has really come into his own this season. He and Paul Wellens have been the stand-out players for Saints this season.

I would love to have been involved in the semis with Warrington but we lost out to Saints and we can only reflect on what might have been.

It's been an up and down season for Warrington but the big plus has definitely been the emergence of young winger Kevin Penny. This lad has terrific talent and has the potential to be a world beater.

Magic for Mike

Nice to see that my old mate Mike Wainwright has got fixed up at Salford and enjoyed his debut in last week's terrific win over Bradford.

If Salford had lost, I think they could have thrown the towel in but a smashing victory has given them a lifeline.

Mike will be a good signing for Salford, he's an outstanding club man and I'm very surprised that Warrington let him go.

Wainwright rarely makes mistakes, he's Mr Consistency and he can keep going for the full 80 minutes. He could well be the man who keeps Salford up and I wish him well because he's a great lad.

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