OUR hard-up sports desk are down to their last £50.

Having invested a £10 National Lottery win on a series of cunningly-crafted bets (and missing out on a £175 return when Eric Cantona scored his Cup Final goal) it is time to bite the bullet.

And if my colleagues refuse to throw the lot on Wigan pulverising Bath on Saturday in the challenge game at Twickenham they should prepare for a tantrum of mammoth proportions.

I would sooner back the Oswaldtwistle netball team to beat New York Nicks at basketball than bet on Bath to beat the imposters from rugby league.

And the key quality Wigan possess is professionalism.

It was comical to hear Nigel Starmer-Smith making excuses for the Wigan win in the Middlesex Sevens.

One reason put forward was that the union chaps had not put out their best sides.

The very fact that Wigan were at full strength was indicative of their committed attitude to all forms of competition.

And that desire to win, coupled with their vastly superior physical strength, will overcome any tactical naivety or technical fragility.

Although Bath will no doubt attempt to kill the game in rucks and mauls, and their kicking should maintain the pressure on the Wigan forwards, Wigan's power in running with the ball will prove decisive.

But the real winners from this challenge game will be the other sports competing with rugby union and league for spectators' cash.

Until the two codes can unite and create a truly professional hybrid game, it is difficult for fans to commit themselves to either code knowing better players could and should be available at the highest level.

Should rugby union survive or thrive in their new professional approach, a similar challenge in 10 years' time would have different results.

Until, though, the best rugby players are competing against each other on a regular basis, England will not compete internationally with the likes of the Aussies at league and the South Africans at union.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.