Newton's ancestry leaves Scotland relatively bereft

Dave Hadfield
Saturday 17 May 2008 00:00 BST
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Scotland have failed in their bid to add Hull KR's Clint Newton to their World Cup squad, but have higher hopes of one of his team-mates. Newton, the son of the golfer, Jack Newton, was born in America and brought up in Australia. He was hoping a Scottish strand in his ancestry would qualify him for the tournament, but the link turned out to be a great-grandparent, rather than the required grandparent.

"The lad was really keen and submitted some tremendous paperwork, but unfortunately he doesn't qualify," said the Scotland team manager, Richard Thewlis. However, another Rovers forward, Rhys Lovegrove, appears to meet the criteria and Scotland are set to include him in their initial squad.

Mick Potter, already appointed St Helens' coach next season, takes his current side, the Catalan Dragons, to Knowsley Road tonight. Potter has steered the Catalans to second in the table, a point ahead of the third-placed Saints. Their long unbeaten run ended at Bradford in the Challenge Cup last weekend, but they have John Wilson and Vincent Duport available again to strengthen their backline. Saints will give a late fitness test to Maurie Fa'asavalu, who turned his ankle in his comeback match last week.

Fourth-placed Bradford could have James Evans and Ben Jefferies back against bottom club Castleford, but Shontayne Hape and Wayne Godwin drop out. Under the terms of his loan to Cas, Matt Cook cannot play against the Bulls. Hull are at Harlequins and Hull KR go to Huddersfield, who have confirmed the signing of the New South Wales full-back, Brett Hodgson from next season.

In National League 1, there will be interest in how Whitehaven react to their record 106-8 thrashing at Wigan when they go to Batley. Halifax can go top of the table for the first time if they beat Dewsbury by more than 14 points.

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