Sparky

The hearing into charges that Wigan broke the Super League salary cap will now take place on Wednesday, 25 July.
It had originally been scheduled to take place on Monday, 16 July but has been moved to give the Warriors more time to prepare their case.

Wigan, St Helens and Bradford were all charged with spending more than the permitted 50% of their income on players' wages in the 2006 season.

Bradford have already been docked two points and Saints fined £22,000.

And the same three-man independent panel will hear Wigan's defence.

Wigan requested more time after claiming they were unable to fully prepare their case until the outcome of a preliminary hearing.

The preliminary hearing was held to determine whether any penalties imposed should be in accordance with the rules in place in 2006 or an amended version introduced for this year.

The Warriors managed to persuade the Rugby Football League to use last year's set of rules at a two-hour meeting with the tribunal panel on Thursday.

And Wigan chairman Maurice Lindsay said: "The panel were extremely fair and we are obviously pleased and relieved that they found in our favour."

Bradford were fined two points for going 4% over the limit and Saints handed their cash punishment for going over the limit by a smaller amount.

Saints' offence is believed to relate to bonuses given to James Graham and Ade Gardner for Great Britain call-ups.

A Saints club statement said they "agree with and accept the penalty," £4,000 of which was a suspended fine from 2005.

"The club considers the quantum of the breach to have been very minor and to have been with mitigating factors."

A statement from Bradford expressed "general satisfaction" with the panel's "appropriate" decision and punishment.

This year, clubs have voted to double the maximum penalty from a six-point deduction to 12 points, depending on the seriousness of the breach.