LEIGH Centurions march back into town on Sunday after weeks on the road.

And for only the second Hilton Park game in eight weeks Leigh will have two new faces making their first appearances on home soil.

Coach Darren Abram has confirmed that new recruits Matt Sturm and Ben Cooper will be in the line-up for the clash with Halifax.

"Both made valuable contributions on their debuts at Barrow last weekend and deserve to be in the side again;" he said.

Leigh beat off some serious competition to land New Zealand front rower Sturm after he was surprisingly released by Warrington.

Sturm, 31, has played much of his career in England in the Super League with Huddersfield and Warrington although he has spent time out on loan at Workington, Whitehaven and Rochdale.

"I've been looking for a prop for a while," Abram says. "But good ones are as rare as rocking-horse droppings. I tried to get Richard Moore and Vinny Myler from Bradford, but to no avail.

"Then Matt became available and he convinced us that he has the desire to achieve something in his career. He is very professional, has a quick play-the-ball and is strong defensively. He is the ideal man to give us what Dave Bradbury did."

Centre or full-back Cooper, 23, comes to Hilton Park from Huddersfield initially on a one month loan agreement.

Abram says: "He played 16 times in Super League for the Giants last season but has struggled to cement a regular place this term. Since Huddersfield signed a new centre from Australia he's been pushed further down the pecking order.

"He's coming for a month in the first instance, but we hope it will be longer. If we get to where we want to go, Ben would be the type of player that we'd be looking for."

However, leading try-scorer Chris Percival won't be in the side again this weekend.

While recovering from a gashed knee, Percival has now picked up an infection and was in hospital earlier this week for a minor operation to clean up the wound. Also still missing will be Oli Wilkes who has been suspended for one game for a high tackle at Doncaster last week.

Leigh's U18's play Huddersfield in a curtain-raiser on Sunday, kick off at 12.15 at Hilton Park.