Sculthorpe's elbow earns ban

The Wigan prop, Danny Sculthorpe, is out of the Powergen Challenge Cup quarter-final against Wakefield after being suspended for two matches.

The Wigan prop, Danny Sculthorpe, is out of the Powergen Challenge Cup quarter-final against Wakefield after being suspended for two matches.

Sculthorpe was last night found guilty of use of the elbow in an off-the-ball tackle on Richard Mathers during last Friday's defeat at Leeds. He was also fined £400.

His absence means that the Wigan coach, Mike Gregory, could be tempted to bring in the Great Britain captain, Andy Farrell, for his first game of the season following knee surgery.

Wakefield have doubts over two of their forwards, Olivier Elima and Steve Snitch, for Friday night, but expect Michael Korkidas to be fit.

Sculthorpe's elder brother, Paul, will be back in St Helens' side to play Hull in their tie on Sunday after missing the Super League match against Widnes last Friday with a thigh strain.

Willie Talau is also ready to return, but Saints' coach, Ian Millward, says that Martin Gleeson will definitely not play, as his hand injury has not healed.

York have appealed to Richard Hayes, their former captain, to come out of retirement again to help them through their injury crisis in their quarter-final against Huddersfield on Sunday.

Hayes played in the fifth-round victory over Featherstone and is needed again because of a series of injuries in the National League Two club's pack.

Leeds' Australian forward, Matt Adamson, is expected to be out of action for between one and three months once he has had the shoulder operation which is due this week.

The Leeds coach, Tony Smith, has tipped his hooker, Matt Diskin, to push for a Great Britain place this year. "He works hard at his game and that is paying off for him," Smith said.

Castleford's Rob Lunt has failed in his appeal against a two year suspension after testing positive for the banned steroid, stanazolol. Lunt joined Cas from St Helens Academy team during the close season, but has not played a competitive match for them.