Jamie Peacock to miss Leeds Rhinos' Super League opener at Crusaders

Leeds have backed Jamie Peacock's claim that leading British players need a longer off-season by leaving the England captain out of their squad for Friday night's opening Super League fixture, against the Crusaders in Wrexham. Peacock, who said recently that the Super League should be cut from 14 teams to 10, to reduce the number of matches, began his preparations for 2010 several weeks after the rest of the Rhinos squad, after leading England to the final of the Four Nations in November. The Leeds coach, Brian McClennan, clearly agrees that his player's build-up to the World Club Challenge against Melbourne Storm next month would be better served by another week on the weights. Peacock will have three Super League games before the Melbourne match, which is the Rhinos' early-season priority as they aim to reclaim the title they lost to Manly last year. "We are fortunate to have a fully fit squad this week so we are able to rest Jamie Peacock to give him another week to continue his build-up to the start of the season," McClennan said. The Rhinos' willingness to rest such a key player for the first game of their title defence contradicts the insistence from their captain, Kevin Sinfield, that they are expecting "a tough challenge" from a Crusaders side who have been cobbled together in the last month and will have had only "two or three" training sessions, according to their coach, Brian Noble. Noble can only envy McClennan's option of starting with either Luke Burgess or Ryan Bailey at prop instead of Peacock, with numerous other forwards available for the interchange bench. The Crusaders' meagre resources have been further depleted by the loss of the former Wakefield centre Tony Martin, one of their more credible close-season signings, with a knee injury. The former Hull and Huddersfield scrum-half Chris Thorman has taken over as player-coach of York City Knights after James Ratcliffe was suspended for six months by the Rugby Football League for racially abusing a member of the public at a schools fixture last October. Ratcliffe pleaded guilty to bringing the game into disrepute and has resigned his position as the RFL's service area co‑ordinator for North Yorkshire. He will be eligible to return to York on 25 March.