RUGBY LEAGUE: McGrath holds fort at Leeds

LEEDS WILL have to manage without their coach, Graham Murray, for their next two matches after he flew to Australia yesterday to be with his terminally ill mother.

His assistant, Damien McGrath, will be in charge for the games against Sheffield tonight and Hull next Friday, although Murray picked the side to face the Eagles before leaving.

It shows the return of Brad Godden, Ryan Sheridan and Darren Fleary after injury, with Anthony Farrell, Marcus St Hilaire and Leroy Rivett all rested. Murray is to leave permanently at the end of the season to take over at North Sydney, but his designated successor, Dean Lance, missed the chance of some more hands-on experience when his month-long visit ended on Monday.

The Halifax caretaker, Gary Mercer, may retire as a player in order to concentrate on coaching the team. They won their first game under him at Salford, but were thrashed 46-10 at St Helens on Wednesday.

The club's South African centre, Jamie Bloem, who is serving a three- month ban for biting, is to play rugby union for Racing Club of Paris. The signing would break the convention across the two codes of rugby that one does not use players suspended from the other.