Pryce and Reardon to Answer Assault Charges

Leon Pryce is due to appear with his former Bradford team-mate Stuart Reardon at the city's magistrates court on Thursday in a hearing that could have significant implications for England's hopes of success in this autumn's World Cup in Australia.

Pryce, the St Helens stand-off who scored the last try in their 28-16 victory against Hull in Saturday's Challenge Cup final at Wembley, has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm on a man at the address of Reardon's wife in July. Both players have been charged with using violence to gain entry to the property while Reardon is accused of assaulting his wife.

Gareth Raynor, the Hull wing who like Pryce would be an automatic selection in England's World Cup squad, is also under a legal cloud as he is the subject of ongoing investigations by Humberside Police into an alleged counterfeit ink cartridge scam. Raynor was arrested and bailed in August, and is expected to appear in court again in early October, but "categorically denies" any wrongdoing.

Wigan have awarded new contracts to five of their players including Richie Mathers, the former Leeds full-back who joined them last winter after his attempt to prove himself in Australia with the Gold Coast Titans had been undermined by two serious knee injuries. Mathers, 24, has signed a new one-year deal with an option for 2010, while the overseas centers Cameron Phelps and George Carmont have also impressed sufficiently to earn contracts for next season. Harrison Hansen, a 22-year-old second-row from Salford who is expected to represent Samoa in the World Cup, has agreed a two-year extension to his contract that now runs until the end of 2011 and the 19-year-old Cumbrian forward Lee Mossop has been given a two-year deal.

The Rugby Football League will trial a video referee at a non-televised Super League game for the first time in this country at Sunday's Hull derby. The system has already been used in the National Leagues and for all the Catalans Dragons home games, causing huge frustration to spectators at the matches who are unable to watch video replays because of the absence of a big screen.