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Wakefield know the extent of the damage done to their season by going into administration last week – and they will be relieved that it is not worse.

The Rugby League ruled yesterday that Trinity should be docked four points for breaking the body's rules on insolvency.

The punishment is the same as that handed out to Crusaders for the same infraction this winter, although the League has the power to deduct a maximum of six points.

The Wildcats, now under the new ownership of local businessman Andrew Glover, begin the task of getting their points tally into the black at the Catalan Dragons tonight.

They must do so with a depleted side, having lost three players to rival Super League clubs this week. Their coach, John Kear, has promised new recruits to fill the gaps and that process has already begun.

None of Wakefield's new signings so far – Craig Harvey from Warrington and Kyle Amor from Leeds on loan, plus two permanent signings from Huddersfield, Josh Griffin and Greg Johnson – will be involved in Perpignan, however, but Kevin Penny is in line to make his debut. Setaimata Sa is in the Catalans' squad, despite being carried off at the Millennium Stadium, but Clint Greenshields is out.

In today's other Super League match, Martin Aspinwall could make his Castleford debut against Huddersfield, the club he left this winter. The 17-year-old hooker, Daryl Clark, is also in the squad for a possible first senior game, taking the place of Nick Fozzard.

The Giants' squad is unchanged from the one which beat Warrington at Cardiff. Both sides had impressive victories there last weekend and a second win in a row would give either of them a morale boosting start to the season.

Jordan Tansey, the utility back sacked by Hull last week after a series of disciplinary breaches, has joined the Championship club, Dewsbury. He could make his debut in the Northern Rail Cup match against Doncaster tomorrow.

St George-Illawarra warmed up for next Sunday's World Club Challenge at Wigan by beating the Canterbury Bulldogs 28-14 in Woolongong. They could have lost the utility player, Nick Emmett, from their squad to travel to England after he went off with an arm injury.

Labels: against, begin, Dragons, Independent, process, rebuilding, Wakefield

Ireland began their Six Nations campaign with a win over Italy at the weekend, however it was a less than stellar performance from the team as unforced errors almost cost them victory.

Italy took an early lead in the game with Mirco Bergamasco slotting over his first penalty after Ireland’s Sean O’Brien was penalised for not releasing.

Ireland tried to gain a foothold in the match for most of the first quarter but a series of unforced errors and poor handling skills put an end to any scoring opportunities.

It was only when the half-hour mark approached that Ireland finally looked like scoring when O’Brien cut through the Italian defence to offload to Jonathan Sexton.

Sexton was bundled into touch just before the Italian line, but he didn’t come away empty handed. After an infringement from the home side, Sexton levelled the scores with a penalty of his own.

Play became scrappy for both sides and on the stroke of half time Bergamasco gave his side the lead by landing his second penalty.

As the second half got underway, Ireland emerged a different side and their intensity forced the Italians onto the back foot.

A series of good recycled ball from the Ireland forwards brought them ever closer to the Italian’s 22 and spotting a gap in their defence, Brian O’Driscoll cut inside to score the first try of the game, with Sexton adding the extras.

Ireland had ample more opportunities to take the game out of Italy’s reach but poor passes and knock ons halted any further progress.

With seven minutes left, Ireland were forced to defend hard after Denis Leamy was sin binned for an offside infringement.

It was then when the Italians began their comeback when Luke McClean stormed over Ireland’s try line with just five minutes left on the clock.

Luckily for Ireland, Bergamasco missed the conversion and Italy failed to win the crucial restart.

With just three minutes left and Italy with a one-point lead, O’Gara recreated his efforts of 2009 with an impressive drop goal, to snatch victory back from the home side.

Meanwhile, on Friday night’s opening match, Wales played host to England at the Millennium Stadium, where Northampton’s Chris Ashton ran in two tries to seal the win for his side.

France also played host to Scotland, bringing in a 34 – 21 victory despite the Scots staging a number of successful comebacks.

Labels: begin, Insideirelandie, Irelandaposs, Italy, Nations

Reuters

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