Warrington set to appoint Smith

Warrington will today announce the England coach, Tony Smith, as their new head coach, to work alongside James Lowes, under whom the Wolves have lost all three of their games this season.

The Catalan Dragons have completed the signing of the controversial Australian Greg Bird and plan to give him his debut at home to Castleford on Saturday. Bird was due to join Bradford before being refused a visa by the British authorities because of an assault charge hanging over him.

He will return to Australia to defend himself at the end of next month and will have his contract cancelled if he is found guilty. Before that, he faces the question of whether the immigration department will let him into this country for the Dragons' away fixtures. That will be tested for the first time before the match at Wakefield a week on Sunday.