St Helens hooker Kieron Cunningham has signed a new four year contract with St Helens.

After months of speculation that the Welsh star, widely regarded in rugby league circles as the best hooker in the world, would sign for rugby union, St Helens announced on Tuesday afternoon that Cunningham would be staying with rugby league.

With two years left on his current deal the Welsh star has extended his current contract by two years, much to the delight of the St Helens coach Ian Millward.

"Kieron Cunningam's decision to stay with St Helens is an incredible show of support for rugby league", Millward said.

"He has put his passion for the game in front of money, and he has really stood up to show which game he wants to play in.

"There has been speculation since the World Cup last year that Kieron would be going to rugby union, and obviously I am absolutely delighted that he has decided to stay with us."

After reportedly turning down a bid from Swansea last week for Cunningham, and then losing at Castleford last Friday night the week has been a much better one for Saints, with both this announcement and the club's signing of Aussie flyer Darren Albert.

And Tuesday's announcement is a great boost for rugby league as a whole, especially with Cunningham being named in Great Britain's test squad to face Australia later this year.

A key part of both the St Helens and Great Britain line-up, Cunningham is the complete hooker - strong in the tackle and with a good rugby league brain, as well as having a surprising burst of pace for a hooker.

Premature reports of the supposed signing, and that of Welsh team mate Iestyn Harris have come despite outspoken criticism from Pontypridd chief executive Cenydd Thomas of the kind of deals that has seen recent big name league converts switching codes in England.

He told the BBC that the money would be better used tending the grass roots of the game in the country and says that the rush to bring players in from league said a lot about the dearth of home grown talent.

And he was angry that under the deals one or two clubs would benefit from having world class players on their books funded by a union to which all the Welsh clubs are affiliated, something he described as "grossly unfair".

He went on to question the wisdom of shelving out such huge sums for players unproven in the 15-man code questioning whether they would prove to be worth the money.

Certainly the issue of clubs benefiting from union-funded transfers is a prickly issue, particularly for those clubs that have not been able to tempt a league convert.

Last year Zurich Premiership sides threatened to boycott games against Sale after Jason Robinson's RFU-funded arrival, a situation only avoided by the break down in talks between the RFU and the clubs that resulted in the RFU holding back money promised to the top flight.

However, now that has been resolved with the recently agreed eight year plan Sale have requested back payments for half of Robinson's contract, the club having paid it themselves last year, and further threats of a boycott have been averted thanks to a promise from the RFU of similar help to other clubs interested in signing a league player.