The right choice of a new on-field leader was essential."I could have gone with Steven Kearney, or Jarrod McCracken or two or three others, but Quentin is a very, very popular choice among the players."His style is to lead by example. He's no after-dinner speaker, but you'd like him in the trenches with you."Pongia, although only 28, is an old-fashioned Kiwi forward from the hot- bed of the game on the west coast of the South Island, a place renowned for the toughness of its terrain and its style of play.That approach has got him into trouble at times, with regular visits to the game's judiciary while with Canberra Raiders."When I was a young player starting out in the Australian competition, I was out to prove something to the other forwards who were around," Pongia says. Beneath Frank Endacott's affability, there is the knowledge that he no longer has a club job when he returns. Quentin Pongia, who moved to the Auckland Warriors partly on the strength of Endacott being coach there, will, like nine other members of the party, go back to find an entirely new regime at the club. If it is worrying Endacott, he is not letting it show "I'm a realist," he says. "When Graham Lowe took over the club, I knew I was out of a job, because we've had a running battle for years."It's a pity, because this Auckland squad is two years away from really making it."Where they and Endacott must make it now is on the international stage, starting at Huddersfield in the first Lincoln Test tomorrow. Fresh from the disappointment of taking a one-Test lead against Australia only to lose the series yet again, he says that it is very important for a country where the Warriors are just one symptom of the game's turmoil to win here for the first time since 1970 "I know you need it as well," he tells his hosts.
"But we need it more."Under the circumstances, the last thing Endacott needed midway through the Australian series was to lose his captain, full-back and goal-kicker - permanently, it turns out, because Matthew Ridge has reacted to a serious arm injury by retiring from international rugby. IF THEY allowed themselves to think in that way, the coach and captain of the New Zealand squad trying to win a Test series in Britain for the first time in 28 years could easily find themselves distracted by events back home. The 28-year-old forward will bring his one-man strike to an end when he joins his Nottingham Forest team-mates for the first time since May.The acrimony of the last few months is bound to tell, however - the Dutchman's manager, Dave Bassett, was unsure yesterday whether he would even shake the player's hand.. My interest ended there and then," said the Saints manager, David Jones.Wimbledon have signed the Port Vale winger, Gareth Ainsworth, for pounds 2m. The 25-year-old had also attracted interest from Leeds and Everton.Pierre van Hooijdonk begins his Premiership rehabilitation today, when the errant Dutchman returns to club football. Gunni Gunnlifursson, the pounds 500,000-rated Icelandic Under-21 international, flew in yesterday for talks about a move from KR Rejkyavik.Southampton have pulled out of a move to sign the Wimbledon striker, Efan Ekoku, after being told they would have to double their transfer record to buy him "I asked Wimbledon for a price and I was quoted pounds 4m.
"Having seen the incident again from another angle it would have been a red card," he said. "Unfortunately Patrick Vieira's body was between me and Tim Sherwood. That is why I gave a foul for a reckless tackle and only a caution."Manchester United have set up a deal for a new goalkeeper. The referee said he had studied video evidence of the challenge. The Gunners have also declared that their England defender Martin Keown is not for sale, following reported interest from Blackburn Rovers.Though they were also knocked back by Dion Dublin yesterday, one player Blackburn did manage to sign was the Italian midfielder, Dario Marcolin, on loan from Lazio for the rest of the season, with an option to buy him for pounds 1m.Dermot Gallagher has admitted that he should have sent off Blackburn Rovers' captain, Tim Sherwood, for his tackle on Arsenal's Patrick Vieira last Sunday.
He has been back to games recently and may bid rather than see the club fall into other hands.City have completed the sale of the striker Lee Bradbury to Crystal Palace for pounds 1.5m, and have signed two players on loan: the Huddersfield defender Andy Morrison and the Everton striker Michael BranchArsenal have signed the 20-year-old Argentinian striker, Fabian Caballero, on loan for the rest of the season from Cerro Porteno, a Paraguayanclub. He is also sorting out a schedule for next year, but confirmed that Wimbledon and the three other Grand Slams would not be on the list.. MANCHESTER CITY were facing a crisis last night following the death of their main shareholder, Stephen Boler. The millionaire businessman died of a heart attack, with a rush for his eight million shares expected to follow. Boler had been looking for a buyer before his death, but his asking price of pounds 8m had scared off prospective investors. The main players in the bidding for the 24 per cent stake will be Mike McDonald, the former Sheffield United chairman, and City's vice-president, Raymond Donn Even the former City chairman, Francis Lee, might return. It was their 19th meeting and Becker leads 10-9."The way I have been playing in the last three matches gives me great satisfaction," the semi-retired Becker said, confirming that he would play in Paris and Stockholm. He saved three break points to avoid a 3-5 deficit, but came adrift again in the tie-break, losing the first four points and double-faulting for the eighth time for 1-5.