Much of Holroyd's first season with the club has been wrecked by a shoulder injury, but he has impressed since returning to the side.Tomorrow also marks the start of the Northern Ford Premiership's play-off series. The league leaders, Dewsbury, meet Leigh, who thrashed them last week, while Doncaster go to Keighley.The most tense encounters will be at Featherstone, where Widnes are the visitors, and at Oldham, who face Hull KR. Under the new top-eight play-off system, the losers of those two matches are knocked out.Peter Moore, one of the most influential administrators in Australia and for many years the chief executive of the Canterbury club, has died after a long battle with cancer.. Dewsbury, determined to re-open the door to Super League, can take a significant step towards possible promotion when they take on Leigh in the first round of the Northern Ford Premiership play-offs tomorrow. Dewsbury, determined to re-open the door to Super League, can take a significant step towards possible promotion when they take on Leigh in the first round of the Northern Ford Premiership play-offs tomorrow. The Rams have finished top of the table for the second successive year but must win the Grand Final at Bury on 29 July to claim the title of champions and, after losing to Hunslet in the decider at Headingley last year, are determined to go one better.The ultimate prize may be once more shrouded in controversy but the Dewsbury coach Neil Kelly knows that victory at the Ram Stadium will take his side to within 80 minutes of a second successive Grand Final appearance."In a way last weekend it was a relief to play a game of rugby and get away from all the politics," he said."Our work is done on the field and any argument about going into Super League is totally irrelevant unless we win the Grand Final so we've got to remain focused."Last year we were in uncharted territory but we know where we are now and we've got that motivation in wanting to go back and win."The NFP play-off series has been extended this year to involve the top eight but the system once more rewards the highest-placed teams.The winners of tomorrow's preliminary semi-finals - Keighley play Doncaster in the other tie at Cougar Park - go straight through to the major semi-finals in a fortnight's time, while the losers have a second "life" in next week's minor semis.For the other play-off contenders, it is sudden-death all the way.

In the elimination semi-finals tomorrow, Featherstone Rovers meet Widnes at the Lionheart Stadium and Oldham take on Hull KR at Spotland.Widnes, who by dint of having the only facilities in the NFP that are deemed suitable for Super League, are viewed as the one serious promotion contender and that, according to the Featherstone coach Peter Roe, gives the Vikings an added incentive."They are the only club in the division who have already been acknowledged as a potential Super League side by virtue of their magnificent ground so I expect them to come here with all guns blazing," said Roe.The Rugby Football League has unveiled a revolutionary eight-panelled ball that will be used for the first time in this year's World Cup.Months of research, followed by a series of tests, have shown the new James Gilbert ball to be better suited to the handling code because of its slightly different shape, according to league officials.The new ball also travelled further and more accurately, compared with the traditional four-panelled ball, in tests with a kicking machine.The ball, which will be used throughout the domestic game from next season, will become available to the competing nations six weeks before the World Cup tournament kicks off on 28 October.. About time too, you might say. Almost two decades after masterminding Randwick to four Australian Premiership titles and nine years after guiding his beloved Wallabies to the first of two World Cup victories on British soil, Bob Dwyer is about to experience life at the sharpest end of his homeland's domestic game. Dwyer yesterday signed a two-year deal as coach of the New South Wales Waratahs - his first stint at Super 12 level - and he will prepare the Sydneysiders for next summer's tussle with the Lions.

Given that he still considers the 1989 Lions to have been the dirtiest side he ever encountered, an interesting time should be had by all About time too, you might say. Almost two decades after masterminding Randwick to four Australian Premiership titles and nine years after guiding his beloved Wallabies to the first of two World Cup victories on British soil, Bob Dwyer is about to experience life at the sharpest end of his homeland's domestic game. Dwyer yesterday signed a two-year deal as coach of the New South Wales Waratahs - his first stint at Super 12 level - and he will prepare the Sydneysiders for next summer's tussle with the Lions. Given that he still considers the 1989 Lions to have been the dirtiest side he ever encountered, an interesting time should be had by all. Born in Sydney 60 years ago, Dwyer was not planning on returning home; indeed, he had become engrossed in the cut and thrust of the Allied Dunbar Premiership, first with Leicester and then with Bristol. It was only when the West Country club set about restructuring their backroom operation and gave Dean Ryan, the former England No 8, day- to-day control of first-team affairs that a southern hemisphere alternative suddenly became attractive.The Waratahs, who pointed a resentful Ian Kennedy towards the exit door after finishing a lowly ninth in this season's Super 12, put Dwyer on a shortlist along with Laurie Mains, the former All Black coach who guided the Johannesburg-based Cats to the semi-finals in May, and John Connolly, who severed his deep links with the Queensland Reds at the end of the tournament. Both Dwyer and Mains were interviewed earlier this week, and the older man won."Bob is regarded as one of the finest coaches in the world, a status reflected by his outstanding record, both with Randwick and Australia and also in England," said the chief executive of the New South Wales Rugby Union, Danny Harley. What Harley did not say was that the Waratahs job is the hottest potato in Australian rugby.

Dwyer will be their fourth front-line coach in as many years and another Super 12 misfire will put him under pressure before the Lions even cross the equator.English rugby will certainly miss his frank, forthright and occasionally fractious presence; Dwyer took Leicester to new heights during their charge to the 1997 Heineken Cup final and, after being hung out to dry in a vicious outbreak of internal politics at Welford Road, breathed new life into Bristol after their fall from top-flight grace that same season. The old maestro leaves these shores convinced that the club game here has improved out of all recognition and, if he is also of the firm opinion that he had something to do with that improvement, few will argue against him.Bristol, meanwhile, will fancy their chances of another long European Shield run next season after yesterday's draw in Dublin. Last term's beaten semi-finalists go in with two fairly average French sides, Mont-de-Marsan and La Rochelle, and a distinctly lightweight Italian outfit, Parma. Other English sides, notably Newcastle and London Irish, are not so fortunate.