Rugby League: Currie leaves the Broncos looking for a new coach

LONDON BRONCOS announced last night that their coach, Tony Currie, was leaving them "for personal reasons". The former Australian Test player had been in charge for three seasons, with the highlight being the runners- up position in Super Lea-gue last year.

But the Broncos missed out on the play-offs this year and rumours about Currie's position had been increasing steadily. The club's chief executive, Tony Rea, insisted that Currie had not been sacked, despite an investigation into incidents during the match against St Helens last month that threw doubt on to his position.

"We did have an inkling that he was thinking of moving on," said Rea, who added that two Australians recently linked with the job could now come into the reckoning.

They are Les Kiss, the reserve grade coach at North Sydney, and Mark Murray, the former Test scrum-half, who is in charge at Norths in Brisbane.

The Leeds coach, Graham Murray, will not decide his on team for the final eliminator against Saints until tomorrow. He was feeling more optimistic after Adrian Morley, Marc Glanville and Terry Newton came through their first training session since their injuries in the bruising affair at Wigan last Sunday.

"We will turn up the intensity at our last session and see how the boys respond," Murray said. Richie Blackmore will again play with pain-killing injections in his groin injury, while Paul Newlove and Chris Joynt are fit for an unchanged Saints.

With both sides at full strength, the suspicion would be that Saints' defence would not contain Leeds for 80 minutes. The continuing doubt about the home line-up leaves the whole affair delicately balanced.

It is a big day as well for Leeds' Academy team, favourites to beat Wigan in their Grand Final before the main match at Headingley.

Leeds finished six points clear at the end of the regular season and the Wigan Academy coach, Billy McGinty, also believes that two gruelling single-point victories during the last week will handicap his side.

As well as home advantage, Leeds have at least two players - prop Daniel Ward and stand-off Kevin Sinfield - who could be playing at senior level this time next year.

Lancashire Lynx can virtually make certain of a place in the final of the Treize Tournoi, if they repeat last week's victory over Villeneuve in France today.

Lancashire, who have continued their strengthening by signing the Oldham captain and scrum-half, Neil Flanagan, for next season, are the only English team with two wins in the tournament.