The Mitsubishi Lancer is still in the early phase of its development and brake problems slowed McRae dramatically on stage three.The only driver to seriously challenge the leading Peugeots was Subaru's Petter Solberg. Never outside the top three over the first trio of stages, Solberg then spun off the road on the penultimate stage.. Leeds lost their unbeaten record of competitive games in the new season and lost their heads as well as they were dismantled on their last visit to the Boulevard. The Rhinos were already a beaten side by the time they had their hooker, Matt Giskin, sent off before the hour mark for a horrible late, high challenge on Jason Smith.It was too late in another sense as well, because Smith had been largely responsible for setting up what was already a match winning league. Any hopes Leeds had of getting back into the game disappeared early in the second half when Smith again exploited the slow defence to take the corner. Again Calderwood failed to deal with it and Sean Ryan snapped up his second try. That took the sting out of the one scored by Marcus St Hilaire from a Sinfield break soon after.That was only a brief interlude for Leeds. After Giskin was rightly sent off, further tries followed from Richard Horne and Gareth Raynor with Crowther taking his total of goals to seven from eight attempts.

Cooke was far more alert, scooping up the spoils and strolling over for his second try.Hull's solid defence frustrated everything that an off-colour Leeds tried to do to get back into the game and, as half-time approached Ryan capitalised on the visitors' mistakes to keep Hull in complete command.Hull: Horne; Raynor, Mackay, Kohe-Love, Crowther; Cooke, J Smith; Greenhill, Jackson, King, Maher, Ryan, Chester. Substitutes: Carvell, Logan, Bird, Craven.Leeds: Cummins; St Hilaire, Walker, Senior, Calderwood; Sinfield, Burrow; Fleary, Viskan, McDermott, Hay, Adamson, Vowles. Substitutes: Pratt, Poching, McDonald, Jones-Buchanan.Referee: I Smith of Oldham.. Next year's World Cup was confirmed as this year's political football yesterday when New Zealand, barely on speaking terms with their Wallaby neighbours and deeply concerned by the financial implications of co-hosting the 2003 tournament under the strict conditions imposed by the organisers, effectively handed the entire competition over to Australia. The Australians now have three weeks to pitch for all 48 matches, and are in such buoyant mood following the success of the 2000 Olympics that they may submit a formal bid within days.The proposed cross-Tasman arrangement had been in trouble for weeks, and the breakdown in relations between the two unions forced the Rugby World Cup and International Rugby Board officials into a humiliating abandonment of next week's tournament launch in Sydney As ever, money was the stumbling block.

The New Zealanders refused to accept demands that local stadium advertising agreements should be waived for the duration of the competition, and were unhappy that the Australians had secured the biggest commercial fish, England and South Africa, for themselves."New Zealand went into this knowing certain terms and conditions were not negotiable," said John O'Neill, the chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union, who has a reputation for playing hard-ball in the boardroom. "They want to make changes and amendments to the agreement, but there is no time now for further negotiations. It's over."O'Neill added: "I am confident that from the logistical, infrastructure and financial perspectives, we will put together a compelling proposal."While the New Zealanders were making noises about raising the issue with the IRB executive – "We are not prepared to commit to something we know we cannot deliver, or to mortgage our future at the whim of the RWC board," said Murray McCaw, the NZRFU chairman – the chances of them resurrecting the sub-host deal on terms more acceptable to themselves are virtually non-existent. "The proximity of the tournament leaves us no alternative but to move forward as quickly as possible," said Chris Rea, the IRB's communications manager. "This step has been forced on us by the NZRFU's failure to conform to, or accept, its obligations."After the serious row over the expansion of the Super 12 tournament – a move blocked by the New Zealanders – there is no love lost between the Antipodean rugby communities This summer's Bledisloe Cup matches should be real fun.. It would have been quite an event, next week's ceremonial draw for the 2003 World Cup: a glittering, if cauliflower-faced, array of rugby's great and good, knocking back the bubbly on the Sydney waterfront and hoovering up photo-opportunities on the steps of the opera house. If the orchestra had been serenading the oval-ball plutocrats with excerpts from Wagner's Ring cycle, it would have been perfect.