Rugby League: Pongia out of tri-nations

Sydney City and New Zealand test prop Quentin Pongia has ruled himself out of the upcoming tri-nations rugby league series after surgery yesterday to remove scar tissue from an ankle.

With a recovery period of one month, at which time Pongia is expected to have more surgery - this time on the knee he injured at the weekend - the front rower has no chance of starting in next month's test series against Australia and Great Britain.

Leading surgeon Merv Cross will reassess Pongia's knee in two weeks to determine if the lateral cartilage damage requires an operation which would mean another month before recovery was complete.

Pongia, who was helped from the field during his team's 8-28 loss against St George-Illawarra, advised Kiwis coach Frank Endacott the recovery period would rule him out of the series.

"I got a phone call from Quentin telling me he was undergoing surgery and that could keep him out for four to five weeks," Endacott said.

Endacott said there was an extremely slim chance that Pongia might return in time to play one of the games, but realistically he wasn't expecting him to make it back.

"It is a very fine line for him if he were to play, but it doesn't look optimistic. Fortunately it is one of the positions that we're fairly well off in terms of depth.

"But it is a big blow losing Quentin, we didn't have him for the Anzac weekend test [this year] as well and we missed him there."

Endacott has been pleased with the form of St George/Illawarra prop Craig Smith.

With Pongia expected to be out of contention, Smith, Joe Vagana, Jason Lowrie, Terry Hermansson and Nathan Cayless are the immediate propping possibilities for the first test against Great Britain on October 15.

Meanwhile, communications company Vodafone yesterday gave the New Zealand rugby league team a seven-figure boost ahead of the tri-series.

The company already sponsor the Auckland Warriors, the New Zealand netball team, the Wallaby rugby team and the English cricket team, and have tied themselves in with the Kiwis until after next year's World Cup.

As well, sportswear giants Puma have signed a four-year deal until the end of 2003 with the Kiwis and are working on a new playing strip for the World Cup.