Reilly set to take charge at Hull KR

Hull Kingston Rovers hope to unveil the highly qualified Malcolm Reilly as their new coach today.

The club has called a press conference for this afternoon at which they will announce the appointment and Reilly, the former Great Britain coach, is the favourite to take over.

It is understood that Reilly - who has coached at club level with Castleford, Leeds, Halifax and Huddersfield and who took Newcastle to a Grand Final victory in Australia - has been abroad over the last few days, deciding whether to take the job.

If he decides against it, then the early front-runner, the former Rochdale coach, Martin Hall, would be the likely choice, rather than Murray Hurst, the former North Queensland Cowboys coach, who also applied.

Reilly was the assistant to Daryl Powell at Leeds until the end of the season, but decided against extending his contract to work under his successor, Tony Smith.

"The quality of the applicants shows that this club is really going places," said the Hull KR chief executive, Nick Halifihi.

Widnes have decided against signing the former Australian Test full-back, Tim Brasher, who had been training with them because they have recruited St Helens' 18-year-old Steve Rowlands, who played two Super League games in the position last season.

Australia have confirmed that they had around £1,700 stolen from players' rooms during their recent tour of Britain. They are investigating the possibility that one of their own players could have been responsible.

New Zealand have complained about the schedule for the Tri-Nations competition over the next three seasons, which envisages all the matches being staged in Britain.