St Helens are preparing to lay down the red carpet for Hollywood actor Russell Crowe, who has hinted that he will be attending the World Club Challenge next month.
The star of films including Noah and Gladiator has revealed on his Twitter account that he will be supporting NRL champions South Sydney, the club he part-owns, in their clash with Saints at Langtree Park on Sunday, February 22.
Crowe tweeted: “Aiming to be at St Helens for the WCC, will fans of other ESL teams don the red and green and turn up for South Sydney?”
St Helens chief executive Mike Rush said: “We’ve not heard anything but we’d be delighted to welcome Russell Crowe to our club.
“He is a massive rugby league fan and, by tweeting his support for this game, he is demonstrating what a prestigious fixture it is.”
Saints, who launch the defence of their First Utility Super League crown on Friday, February 6, are confident of drawing a capacity 18,000 crowd to Langtree Park for the visit of the Rabbitohs, with just 2,000 tickets left on sale.
The fixture will bring the curtain down on the new World Club Series, which also sees Wigan Warriors play Brisbane Broncos and Warrington Wolves take on St George Illawarra on the same weekend.
Crowe, who rarely misses a Souths home game, was an advocate of the expansion of the annual challenge between the champions of the NRL and Super League.
Five years ago he and golfer Greg Norman watched Souths play a challenge match against Leeds Rhinos in Florida.