Latest rugby league news in brief from November 1 to 7, 2021

Scotland international Matty Russell has left Leigh Centurions and joined promoted Toulouse Olympique for their maiden Super League campaign.

Russell, 28, featured with Warrington between 2014 and 2018. He has also spent time with hometown club Wigan, Hull FC, Gold Coast Titans and Toronto Wolfpack.

England scrum-half Luke Gale has joined Hull FC from Leeds Rhinos.

The 33-year-old, who was Man of Steel in 2017 during his successful spell with Castleford, has joined the Black and Whites on an initial 12-month contract as a straight replacement for Marc Sneyd.

All pictures by SWpix.com

Gale makes way at Headingley for the arrival of Australian half-backs Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin.

Scrum-half Marc Sneyd, 30, has left Hull FC and joined Salford Red Devils on a three-year contract.

His exit, with a year left on his contract at Hull, paved the way for Luke Gale joining the Black and Whites from Leeds Rhinos.

Oldham-born Sneyd came through the juniors at Salford and spent four seasons in the first team before moving on to Castleford and then Hull, but decided the time is right for him to be back closer to family.

Salford Red Devils have appointed former Toronto Wolfpack and Leigh boss Paul Rowley as their new head coach.

The 46-year-old ex-England hooker, who oversaw Toronto’s introduction into the game in 2017, joined Salford in 2019 initially as a consultant coach and for the past 12 months has performed the role of head of development.

Rowley succeeds Richard Marshall, who lasted just 12 months in the job, and will be assisted by another ex-Toronto coach Kurt Haggerty, who was interim head coach of Leigh for much of the 2021 season, and existing assistant Danny Orr.

Jason Clark has signed a one-year contract extension with Warrington Wolves.

The former South Sydney Rabbitohs forward, 32, has been at The Halliwell Jones Stadium since 2019.

Championship club Halifax have signed the released Warrington youngster Cole Oakley and Wakefield centre Joe Arundel.

Back-rower or centre Oakley spent time with Newcastle Thunder and Rochdale Hornets on loan from The Wire in 2021.

Arundel, 30, burst onto the Super League scene with Castleford in 2009 and also had a spell with Hull.

Halifax coach Simon Grix said: “Joe has made the decision to pursue part-time rugby. He is a big body and will prove a handful on the edge in both attack and defence. His experience will prove invaluable to our younger outside backs.”

James Ford has agreed a new three-year contract to remain as York City Knights head coach until the end of the 2024 season.

Ford has been in charge at York since 2015.

Newcastle Thunder have continued their recruitment for their 2022 Betfred Championship campaign with the signing of Wigan 28-year-old forward Mitch Clark. Newcastle have gone full-time under head coach Eamon O’ Carroll in their efforts to reach Super League.

England head coach Shaun Wane will have a three-week lead-in time with his players to the Rugby League World Cup after Super League chiefs agreed to end the next domestic season on September 24.

Officials have confirmed that will be the date of the Grand Final at Old Trafford.

It is likely to mean another congested domestic programme. The Super League fixtures are due out on November 25 and the season is expected to start on Thursday, February 10.

Former Catalans Dragons and Castleford Tigers forward Gadwin Springer will be back in Super League in 2022 after signing for promoted Toulouse Olympique.

The 28-year-old France international, who was born in French Guiana, moved with his family to Toulouse at an early age.

He played his junior rugby for Toulouse and represented France at youth level before joining Catalans and then Castleford.

Springer signed for Toronto in 2019 but when the Canadian club pulled out of Super League, he went on to play in the Championship for Halifax and Featherstone.

Ryan O’Brien has been promoted to Widnes Vikings' newly created position of performance manager and Bob Beswick has been recruited as the lead strength and conditioning coach.

O'Brien will work alongside head coach Simon Finnigan in ensuring that there is strategic alignment between medical, strength and conditioning, performance analysis and rugby coaching.

He has been involved in the club since 2010, progressing from a scholarship player through to head of youth performance and most recently assistant first team coach.

Former Vikings hooker Beswick's seen as a good fit as he has experience of the challenges involved in a part-time environment in a strength and conditioning capacity.

London Broncos have signed Papua New Guinea international Wellington Albert for their 2022 Championship campaign.

The 27-year-old former Widnes and Leeds prop forward joined League 1 club Keighley for the 2021 season but missed the whole of it through injury.

Rugby league has broken new ground by launching a professional club in Cornwall.

Cornwall RLFC have made a daring raid into one of rugby union’s strongholds in becoming the 11th team for the 2022 Betfred League 1 competition, the third tier of the professional game in the UK which is due to kick off in March.

The initiative is the work of Canadian Eric Perez, the man who launched Toronto Wolfpack in 2017 and planned to follow it up with the introduction of a second club from Ontario, Ottawa Aces.

Perez bought former League 1 club Hemel and secured permission to move it to the Canadian capital with a view to entering League 1 in 2021 but was thwarted by the arrival of Covid-19.

With no end to the pandemic in sight, Perez has opted to start up the club in England and insists the move to Cornwall is part of a long-term strategy.

League 1 outfit Coventry Bears, founded in 1998, are changing their name to the Midlands Hurricanes under a new parent company in an attempt to develop a regional brand.

The club say the move has been made possible through an injection of investment from local businessman Mike Lomas, who will become chairman and co-owner alongside Alan Robinson, who becomes chief executive.

Lomas said: “As a passionate rugby league fan, I believe the Midlands Hurricanes will, without a doubt, assist the expansion of rugby league.

“The midlands represents a large population of the United Kingdom and I fully believe that growing the sport in this area is paramount to the overall success of the game.”

Featherstone have been punished by the Rugby Football League for crowd misbehaviour at two of their Championship matches in 2021.

The RFL launched an investigation following complaints about an incident in the Rovers car park after the game against Widnes on June 6 and a report of missiles being thrown onto the pitch, endangering match officials and visiting players, during the visit of Bradford seven days later.

Featherstone have been fined a total of £6,000 – half of it suspended until the end of the 2022 season.

Catalans Dragons are planning to take a Super League fixture in 2022 to the 67,000-capacity home of football giants Olympique Marseille.

Dragons chiefs are hoping to build on a successful season in 2021, which culminated in a maiden Grand Final appearance at Old Trafford, by taking a high-profile match on the road, just as they did in 2019 following their 2018 Challenge Cup triumph at Wembley. On that occasion, Dragons drew a crowd of 31,555 to the Nou Camp in Barcelona for the visit of Wigan, which set a record for a Super League regular-season fixture.

The club have yet to decide which fixture to take on the road but it is unlikely to be the derby with newly-promoted Toulouse.