‘Soprano’ hearing postponed

New York  Pretrial hearings on the robbery charges against Robert Iler, teen-age star of “The Sopranos,” and another youth will begin April 22.

State Supreme Court Justice Bonnie Wittner had scheduled the hearings to begin Monday, but delayed them because one of the lawyers is going to the Middle East.

Iler, 17, and two others  20-year-old Michael Cournede and 17-year-old Alban Selimaj  are charged with second-degree robbery. They’re accused of robbing two other youths of $40 on July 4.

Rugby coach cries foul

Sydney, Australia  Russell Crowe has been accused by an Australian rugby league coach of trying to lure several players to South Sydney, a team the actor avidly supports.

Chris Anderson, coach of the Sharks team, said the star of “A Beautiful Mind,” who has no formal links with South Sydney, is breaking the rugby league’s anti-tampering laws by trying to lure Preston Campbell, the National Rugby League player of the year, from the Sharks to South Sydney.

Clubs are forbidden from making offers to players until after June 30. But Anderson said Monday that Crowe also has been talking to St. George-Illawarra player Nathan Blacklock.

“I heard two weeks ago that Russell Crowe was ringing Preston and Blacklock trying to get them to go to Souths,” Anderson said. “If that is the case, it’s absolutely wrong.”

Boy-band maker cleared

Orlando, Fla. Â Lou Pearlman, the hitmaker behind the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, has been cleared of allegations that he broke child labor laws.

The Florida Department of Labor said there was no evidence that Pearlman and his Orlando-based company, Trans Continental Entertainment, violated such rules as making minors work past 11:30 p.m, as alleged by the mother of two of his former entertainers.

Merrily Goodell, the mother of two members of Take 5  one of Pearlman’s former groups that failed to make it big  filed the complaint against Pearlman last fall.

Spotlight turned inward

Radnor, Pa. Â Although her marriage is in trouble and she’s coping with a toddler, Melissa Rivers is philosophical about her problems.

“I had the pretty wedding. I made the pretty house,” Rivers says in the April 6 issue of TV Guide. “I had the pretty baby, I had the handsome husband. I had the career, he had the career, with me at the gate, waving.

“And the reality is: I’m flawed, he’s flawed.”

Rivers, 34, who is on the E! network shows “Live from the Red Carpet” and “Fashion Police,” is separated from her husband, John Endicott. She is the daughter of Joan Rivers.