Wigan tipped to win battle of the Pauls

Bradford Bulls must prove the St Helens coach, Shaun McRae, wrong tonight if they are to give his side any chance of returning to the top of the Stones Super League.

After the Bulls beat the Saints last week, McRae predicted that Wigan would win the second half of the Odsal double-header this week with something to spare. "I'd love to be proved wrong," he said yesterday. "But my honest feeling is that British clubs don't play enough high-pressure matches to be able to win two like this in a row."

Kris Radlinski is fit to return for Wigan while Martin Offiah and Neil Cowie are likely to recover from injuries and Henry Paul declaring himself ready to face his younger brother, Robbie, despite ankle problems.

The clash of the gifted siblings is always worth watching and the Bulls' Brian Smith is predicting a match that will go right to the final hooter. "The team we played last week are contenders, but these are the champions - and long-time champions at that," he said. "We will have to play twice as well as we did against Saints."

Smith will have Karl Fairbank available after escaping suspension for last week's sending off and Bernard Dwyer is added to the squad after injury.

When Saints play Halifax on Sunday, it will be without Scott Gibbs, who has been suspended for two matches for use of the forearm at Bradford last week.

With Gibbs, who is appealing today, now looking certain to return to rugby union, it could be that he has played his last match for St Helens.

Bobbie Goulding, Chris Joynt and Vila Matautia, all of who missed the Bradford match, are regarded as having an even chance returning on Sunday.

The London Broncos are planning a radical approach to their close-season training by taking their entire playing staff to Australia for three months.

The club's coach, Tony Currie, says his side, currently battling for a top four place in Super League, will derive a huge advantage from training in the Queensland sunshine through the worst of the English winter. "Our aim is to come back and mount a real assault on the Challenge Cup in February," he said.

Currie believes that the cost of the enterprise can be defrayed by playing matches against the North Queensland Cowboys and the Brisbane Broncos.

n The former Leeds United player, Peter Lorimer, has joined the Hunslet Hawks as their commercial manager.