Sean Long: 'If it hadn't been for rugby I'd have ended up in a
gang or jailed'  The Saints scrum-half bids farewell in
Saturday's Grand Final after 12 years of glory, scandal and
soul-searching Sean Long Sean Long says his last game for St
Helens in Saturday's Grand Final will be emotional and will
kick-start a three-day party. Photograph: Clint Hughes/PA  Sean
Long, settling over a prawn sandwich and bottle of water at a
country hotel outside Wigan, reflects cheerfully on another
tumultuous weekend. The previous evening he had played his final
home game for St Helens, after 12 years at a club where every
success on the field has been matched by controversy off it.
Long scored a crucial try and set up another in the 14‑10 win
that guaranteed St Helens a place, for the third successive
year, in this weekend's Grand Final against Leeds.  Yet it was
his defence that was the most compelling facet of last
Saturday's headline-winning performance against his hometown
club, Wigan, who had rejected him as a teenager.