TEEN sensation Ben Barba has been forced to ask for a day off from his $13 an hour job at a suburban carwash so he can make his NRL debut for the Bulldogs.

AT the first scrum, Willie Mason started eyeballing every one of them individually. "OK," the Roosters renegade barked. "Which one of you voted me overrated?

LOTE Tuqiri has ignited the Bledisloe Cup, revealing World Cup failures New Zealand have lost their aura and are no longer world rugby's benchmark team.

POLICE in Shanghai have cracked a terrorist cell planning to attack an Olympic football venue, where Australia's Olyroos are to play two matches.

CARLOS Sastre of the CSC team retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after German Marcus Burghardt of the Columbia team won the 18th stage.

AUSTRALIA'S cricketers will have to decide whether to boycott the Champions Trophy after strife-torn Pakistan claimed it would host the September tournament.

THE Adelaide Crows are planning to test Barry Hall's mental state when the Swans' menacing centre-half forward makes his much-anticipated return this weekend.

THE AJC plans to abandon its week-long Randwick Easter carnival experiment and revert to three feature Saturday racedays in succession for next autumn.

HE is the rugby ace with the movie star looks, and now apparently the bank balance to match, who stands between the Wallabies and Bledisloe Cup glory.

THE A-League is set to be expanded to 10 teams for the 2009-2010 season with a North Queensland team receiving provisional admission to the competition today.