Australia summon O'Meley and Bowen

Australia have named the uncapped Mark O'Meley and Matt Bowen in their squad for their Tri-Nations meeting with Great Britain at Wigan on Saturday.

Australia have named the uncapped Mark O'Meley and Matt Bowen in their squad for their Tri-Nations meeting with Great Britain at Wigan on Saturday.

The Australian coach, Wayne Bennett, included the two players, with their completely contrasting styles, in his 19-man party for the game. A victory would take Great Britain into the final of the tournament.

Bowen, an Aboriginal fullback from North Queensland, made his only previous international appearance for an Australian Selection against Papua New Guinea last month and scored a hat-trick of tries.

It is a long way from the dancing feet of Bowen to the driving front-row play of O'Meley, but the prop known in Australia as "Shrek'' is also likely to win a place on the bench at the JJB Stadium. Bennett will decide his line-up on Friday, but praised both of the newcomers yesterday.

"They came over here without having previously played for Australia and their attitude around the camp has been excellent,'' he said. "We've been looking for that.''

Bennett has named Scott Hill to replace the injured Craig Gower at stand-off, with Petero Civoniceva moving up to prop in place of Jason Ryles. Craig Fitzgibbon is optimistic of being fit to reclaim a second-row place ahead of Willie Mason.

Karl Pratt, the Bradford utility player added to the Great Britain squad last week, has disappeared from it just as suddenly because of unspecified personal problems. No decision has been made on bringing in a player to replace him.

New Zealand named four uncapped players in their starting side to play France in Carcassonne tomorrow. Canterbury's Jamaal Lolesi is at full-back, with Dene Halatau of Wests Tigers, Alex Chan of Melbourne, and Wairangi Koopu of the New Zealand Warriors all in the pack.

The London Broncos have continued their energetic recruitment in the wake of losing Dennis Moran to Wigan. The club has signed Tyrone Smith, the brother of the Wallaby flanker George Smith, from Sydney City and re-signed the full-back Zeb Luisi, who played for them in the latter stages of last season.

Wakefield Trinity have agreed a two-year contract with Duncan MacGillivray, and Castleford have signed Dion Bird, who was released by Widnes at the end of last season.