Kevin Ellis will play alongside Davies at scrum-half

Kevin Ellis will play alongside Davies at scrum-half.The French captain, Patrick Entat, hurt his shoulder in training and will have an X-ray to assess the extent of the damage If he is ruled out, Vincent Banet will take his place. Also doubtful for the match is the loose forward Thierry Valero, who will have a fitness test on a calf muscle.In tomorrow's two games, Fiji are strongly fancied to beat South Africa at Keighley, with the Canberra Raiders' winger, Noa Nadruku, the man who can expose the Rhinos' lack of top-class experience, while New Zealand face a Tongan captain with much to prove at Warrington.Duane Mann has lost his place as both Kiwi and Auckland Warriors hooker to the sparkling youngster, Syd Eru. He is joined in the New Zealand side by another of the country's new breed, the scrum-half, Stacey Jones, also of Auckland.The Kiwis' most-capped player, Gary Freeman, announced when the side arrived that he would bring his international career to a close after this tournament. DAVE HADFIELD Wales are holding back Scott Quinnell in the World Cup by leaving him out of their side for their opening match against France in Cardiff on Monday. Quinnell has been suffering an ankle injury, but could be fit for the second, potentially deciding, match in the group, against Western Samoa next Sunday. He has done it before and, in his own quietly efficient way, he could do it again.. "He has always been a good player but, now that a lot more responsibility has been put on his shoulders, he has responded to the challenge."For Powell, the challenge is to prove his detractors wrong. Australia won, but not because Powell could not handle Fittler."He is clearly their key player," Powell said of his opponent.

You win few medals and little extravagant praise for that, but it tends to be appreciated by your colleagues.Some who overestimate the clout that journalists have in these matters have been known to ask if influence could be brought to bear to "get Daryl into the squad". That is the mark of a player with more about him than is generally realised.The other hard fact is that there are few real alternatives to Powell in the No 6 shirt today, especially when his opposite number is such an influential figure as Fittler.They have faced each other directly before, in the Second Test at Brisbane in 1992. A few aches and pains - but there aren't many rugby league players who don't have those. And obviously, like any player, I'd like to be playing at the top level," he says.It is, on the face of it, a demanding business to be playing against the likes of Batley and Dewsbury one week, and Brad Fittler and Co the next.Powell, however, is a player who believes in the fundamental virtues - getting your defence right and making life as smooth and comfortable as possible for your team-mates. To complicate matters further, he needed operations on both Achilles tendons over the summer and has played only three matches since making his comeback."I'm feeling OK. Keighley were robbed of their place in the top division and Powell has consequently dropped out of sight as far as many critics are concerned. The Cougars, before the Super League upheaval changed everything, were stocking up on players of proven First Division experience and Powell was the man to whom they turned.The arrangement has not worked out quite right for either party.

As Sheffield Eagles' first signing 11 years ago, he was a dominant influence on the progress of that club for a decade.His boss there, Gary Hetherington, was certainly never guilty of type- casting him as a midfield blocker, happily handing over responsibility for tactics to a captain he regards as one of the best readers of the game he has seen.It came as something of a shock, therefore, when Powell was sold to Keighley last season. "But we went out there and did a job."The world might just be prepared to concede that Powell is a highly competent defensive player, but it is equally significant that he played a crucial role that day in setting up the winning try."Obviously defence is an important part of my game, but I think of myself as an attacking player, too."Anyone who has watched his club career closely would agree with that. Opposing them: Powell and another unsung tradesman, Carl Gibson, conceding about three stones a man.To most observers, it was a case of Dial M for Murder and Mayhem; a mismatch that could only finish up with M standing for embarrassment.History shows, however, that Powell and Gibson completely bottled up their opposite numbers, and Great Britain went on to win 19-12."Carl and I copped a lot of stick before that match," he says. In the first Test of the series that day, the Aussies fielded a monumental centre combination of Mal Meninga and the even bigger Mark McGaw. The people who know most about the game have always picked me and that's the thing that matters."Plenty of others have very different views of his capabilities, the most vociferous of them all, Alex Murphy, losing few opportunities in his various columns over the past couple of weeks to insist that Powell is not an international-class player, despite his total of more than 30 appearances for Great Britain and England.The normally stoical Powell has even been moved to hit back at the sustained attack from what he calls "an out-of-work TV commentator", but he knows that it is what he does on the pitch at Wembley today which will win the argument one way or the other."There's no doubt that it's a big challenge, but I've played my best rugby league when I've faced my biggest challenges."As he looks for inspiration today, Powell can cast his mind back five years to another afternoon at Wembley, with Australia also the opponents. It is difficult to find many people, outside those responsible for selecting him, who think that he is up to the job. "It's nothing new," Powell said. "This has been going on ever since I first came on to the international scene It doesn't worry me.

The Keighley stand-off faces up this afternoon to Australia's key man, Brad Fittler. Well here it is: as soon as Vernon Pugh, chairman of the IB's amateurism committee, arrived back at Heathrow he said every aspect of the sweeping-away of amateurism is here and now That was last Sunday.. Not for the first time in his long international career, the vultures are hovering over Daryl Powell at Wembley today. They may be interested to know they are not alone.In Scotland Colin Paxton, cousin of the distinguished scrum-half Gary Armstrong and a former Carlisle rugby league professional, wishes to avail himself of the immediately applicable free gangway into rugby union agreed by the International Board last weekend by turning out for Hawick Harlequins.No way, says the Scottish Rugby Union, not at any rate until "confirmation" of the IB's Tokyo decisions is received.