It is a long way apart from our valuation of Shane.”Howarth is understood to have been spared the 35 per cent wage cuts experienced by most of Sale’s squad during the summer. Cardiff have also been called on to deal directly with Sale over the former All Black’s future, rather than through an agent.The only communication so far has been via his New Zealand-based agent, Roger Mortimer, and Sale’s chief executive, Graham Walker, said: “The offer that has been suggested to us through Shane’s agent is totally unacceptable. During my time as a player we were runners- up in the league and cup but didn’t win anything and I want to put things right I’m taking this club to where it deserves to be I’ll make it the best in Europe I’ve made no secret that I am passionate about this club I’ve always wanted to come back here. It has come a little bit earlier than I expected.”
The Natal Sharks coach, Ian McIntosh, was another candidate for the job but the Northampton owner, Keith Barwell, who announced a pounds 1.7m loss at last night’s AGM, said: “It would have been a soft option to have gone for a big name but I’m totally convinced we’ve got the right man for this job.”McGeechan left Franklin Gardens last month to join the Scotland coaching team and is due to succeed Jim Telfer as his country’s head coach after the World Cup.An offer from Cardiff to clinch the signing of Shane Howarth has been described as “totally unacceptable” by Sale, the Welsh international full-back’s club.

He is expected to sign a three-year deal and said: “I’ve got some unfinished business here at Northampton. The 34-year-old former Army officer, who is Saints’ third top points scorer with 1,385, was director of rugby at London Scottish last season. JOHN STEELE took over as the Northampton director of rugby last night and vowed to make the Saints “the best in Europe”. Steele, who played more than 150 games for Saints at fly-half before joining London Scottish as player-coach in 1994, succeeds Ian McGeechan. The Australian team also comprises the US Open champion Patrick Rafter, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde.Hewitt and Rafter are expected to play singles, while Woodbridge and Woodforde – known as “the Woodies” – will line up in doubles.. Every federation says they have the best testing in the world but, if so, then why do we have so many problems?”Lleyton Hewitt has been drafted into the Australian team to replace the injured Mark Philippoussis for the Davis Cup quarter-final against the United States.The 18-year-old, who reached the third round at Wimbledon before losing to Germany’s Boris Becker, will make his Davis Cup debut in the 16-18 July tie in Brookline, near Boston.

But the SOC said it did not inform federations it was coming, believing such notice would defeat the purpose of unannounced tests.”We don’t give warnings, we do all our testing by surprise.” Ernst said. “If you announce you’re coming what’s the use? Now we will have to take measures to make sure this does not happen again.”They say that they have the best testing. “When we test on the Tour we make sure the proper facilities are in place, that there is proper security and escorts for the players. I think there was concern about how these tests were being conducted.”Hermenjat said an agreement might have been reached if the SOC had informed Gstaad organisers of their plans. One programme is enough and we think our testing is the best in the world.”The ATP and Gstaad organisers also argued that there was no proper security or facilities to conduct such sensitive tests, which could have left the results open to dispute.”There was just one gentleman and a bag,” Hermenjat said. It could be quite confusing.”You could have local clubs coming down and testing You can’t let anyone just test whenever they want. Organisers said the ATP, which runs the men’s tour, had its own testing and the SOC had no right to conduct tests at such events.”The tournament is sanctioned by the ATP and subject to ATP rules and testing,” Zeljko Franulovic, the ATP executive vice-president of Europe, said “There’s no need to have tests done by other agencies.

“The position of Gstaad and the ATP is that it isn’t our right.”A controller from the SOC arrived at the Swiss resort on Tuesday evening and told tournament organisers he was there to conduct unannounced tests on Swiss players, including the 1992 Olympic champion Marc Rosset, Roger Federer, Lorenzo Manta and George Bastl.He was denied access to the players by the tournament director, Jacques Hermenjat, on the grounds that it was an ATP tournament. “It’s our law, our position and our right to be able to control every Swiss athlete whenever and wherever we want,” Fred Ernst, the chief of doping controls for the SOC, said. The incident occurred after first-round play at the Swiss Open on Tuesday with both sides claiming they have jurisdiction.
The SOC believes the position of the Gstaad organisers and the ATP was wrong legally as well as politically in the current doping climate. He has told the club that he no longer wants to play for them. Martin Moana is the subject of an offer from Warrington, but Halifax hope to persuade the New Zealander to stay with the club.The Doncaster forward, Tony Miller, has been banned for three matches for an attack to the head of an opponent.. A BITTER ROW has broken out in Gstaad after the Association of Tennis Professionals refused to allow the Swiss Olympic Committee to conduct surprise dope tests on Swiss players, saying they alone were responsible for testing.