Impasse as Test rivals ponder referee selection

Great Britain and Australia are deadlocked over the choice of referee for the third Test at Wigan on Saturday and have put off a decision.

Britain won the first Test under the Englishman Bob Connolly, Australia the second, with their referee Bill Harrigan. The appointment for the decider was supposed to be settled by consensus, but Britain's director of rugby, Greg McCallum, and the tour manager, Geoff Carr, admitted to an impasse last night.

"There's no resolution yet, but I am confident that we will be able to resolve it," said McCallum, who said that he was against tossing a coin to force the issue. "I think that would be disrespectful to the game."

One compromise would be for another British referee, Stuart Cummings or Russell Smith, to be appointed, but Australia remain intent on having Harrigan.

Britain could be without Kris Radlinski at Wigan. The full-back went off in the second half of the defeat at Bolton last Saturday, after straining an abductor muscle 15 minutes into the game.

Meanwhile, the Great Britain coach, David Waite, may turn to the Under-21 squad, fresh from their tour of South Africa, to bolster the team. The Leeds scrum-half, Rob Burrow, enhanced his reputation on the trip, while the hooker, Mark Smith, was man of the match in Sunday's 74-14 win at Germiston.

Australia have doubts over their second-rower, Ben Kennedy, who played more than half the game with a broken hand, and their wingers, Adam MacDougall and Lote Tuqiri, who face checks on ankle and knee injuries respectively.