D-Day for Warriors rule breach

The Warriors are expected to mount a vigorous defence of the charge and have engaged London-based sports lawyer Mark Gay to fight their case in front of an independent three-man tribunal at the Rugby Football League's headquarters on the outskirts of Leeds.

The League will also be represented by London-based lawyer Iain Higgins, a former Cambridge graduate who played rugby league professionally with London Broncos and Hunslet.

Gay has already enjoyed some success after persuading the panel at a preliminary hearing that any punishment should be in accordance with the rules in place at the start of last season.

That means Wigan's maximum penalty if found guilty would be a six-point deduction.

Super League clubs have since voted unanimously to double the penalties but Wigan successfully argued the new scale of punishments should not take effect until next year.

Bradford were docked two points when they appeared in front of the panel earlier this month after exceeding the 50% maximum spend by four per cent.

St Helens were fined £22,000, which included £4,000 suspended from last year, after going over the cap by 0.8%.

Clubs are allowed to spend up to half their annual income up to a maximum of £1.6million on players' wages.

The cap was originally introduced in 1998 to prevent clubs going into financial difficulties but has also been used as a strategy to promote a more competitive league by distributing playing talent more evenly across the game.