Injury-hit Wigan send for Graham

Wigan have addressed their mounting injury problems by signing the Cronulla forward, Nick Graham, on loan for the rest of this season. Coach Stuart Raper has Andy Farrell, Mick Cassidy and Stephen Wild all out of his back row with long-term injuries and had several other players missing for the recent game against St Helens. Ricky Bibey has since been added to the injured list with a broken bone in his back.

Wigan have two vacant import spots since they unloaded Julian O'Neill to Widnes and their chairman, Maurice Lindsay, said he did not intend to fill them. But the availability of a player Raper knows from his time coaching at Cronulla has prompted a change of plan.

Graham is a highly-regarded player who has recently fallen out with the Cronulla and Australia coach, Chris Anderson, and has been dropped to reserve grade. He should arrive in time to play in Wigan's next game, against Bradford on 2 May. "Our chairman is a close friend of Chris Anderson and Chris has kindly allowed us to take him on loan until the end of the season," said Raper. "Nick will provide much-needed cover.''

Leeds' chief executive, Gary Hetherington, has claimed that the Rhinos' supporters will outnumber Bradford's at tomorrow's Powergen Challenge Cup final. He said that the club had sold its 15,000 allocation and that around 10,000 other fans had bought tickets elsewhere.