Rugby League: Edwards charged with assault

THE FORMER Great Britain captain, Shaun Edwards, and his Bradford Bulls team-mate, Tahi Reihana, have been charged with assault following an incident outside a pizza parlour.

The pair will appear before Bradford Magistrates on 15 June. New Zealander Reihana was charged last week, whilst Edwards went voluntarily to Odsal police station on Tuesday night.

The Bradford chairman, Chris Caisley, said that the club were holding their own investigation into the incident.

The Salford coach, Andy Gregory, has said he considered resigning because of the latest refereeing controversy in which he finds himself embroiled.

Gregory has been called into the Rugby League on a date still to be fixed to discuss allegedly abusive remarks aimed at the referee, Steve Ganson, during the game against Sheffield Eagles last Sunday.

The former Great Britain scrum-half said that he had decided to stand down, but had been persuaded to stay on by his coaching staff at The Willows. Gregory has been in trouble before over comments directed at referees.

Eric Hughes, the coach St Helens sacked in January 1996, has returned to the club as operations manager. Hughes, who departed amid some acrimony and was later sacked after a season in charge at Wigan, will have special responsibility for developing young talent, an area in which he is highly regarded.

Shaun McRae, who succeeded him as coach, is contracted until the end of this season and Saints are due to talk to him about the possibility of an extension in July.

The London Broncos have insisted they are serious about signing the rugby union players, Zinzan Brooke and Kyran Bracken, to bolster their slow- starting Super League campaign.

Brooke is on the books of the Broncos' landlords, Harlequins, but has yet to play for them, while Bracken, the Saracens and England scrum-half, will undergo shoulder surgery on Monday.