Union wins the battle for Lomu

Rugby union

JONAH LOMU, the All Black winger, yesterday ended the speculation over his future and announced that he had signed a four-year contract with the New Zealand Rugby Football Union.

The signing of the 20-year-old is a considerable success for the NZRFU which has been competing for his signature with rivals from rugby league, American football and, more recently, the World Rugby Corporation, a rival rugby circus. Exactly how high the NZRFU had to bid for Lomu has not yet been made public, though Phil Kingsley-Jones, his manager and mentor, yesterday said it was in the region of pounds 500,000.

Lomu's announcement came at a function after a match in south Auckland. He had played his usual star role in the game, scoring a try with his first touch of the ball in Counties' 24-15 win over King Country, and later he said: "I have signed up for the NZRFU. They've come up with something that's made me happy. I wanted to stay with rugby and I'm staying."

Lomu follows a number of his All Black team-mates - Sean Fitzpatrick, Jeff Wilson, Josh Kronfeld, Robin Brooke, Zinzan Brooke, Norm Hewitt, Frank Bunce and Ian Jones - in signing with the NZRFU and Kingsley-Jones said yesterday that it was the nature of the contract that had delayed the announcement. "The only haggling was over the terms of the contract," he said, "because at one point the NZRFU wanted to own Jonah - and that was never going to happen. The contract gives him what he wants: independence as well as being an All Black."

Kingsley-Jones said that Lomu still had a possible future in rugby league after the 1999 World Cup and that Leeds, the league club that came close to signing him, should not give up hope. "I have told Leeds that if we start thinking along those lines, they will have first refusal," he said. "I rang Alf Davies [Leeds' chief executive] to break the news. Leeds have always acted very fairly in all this. As I told Alf, the money was only of secondary consideration."

Davies said yesterday that he was "naturally disappointed", a sentiment that may well be shared by international players the world over. Throughout the World Cup, Lomu's battered opponents - England among them - called desperately for the rival code to buy him up. It is now clear that he is back to haunt them. For four years at least.

lThe National Clubs' Association yesterday voted to push for a European club competition and hope to see it in place for the 1996-97 season. The NCA will put pressure on the RFU to approve an international club - rather than divisional - competition before the league season starts. It is probable that League One will be slimmed to eight clubs to cater for it. Swift RFU action is required so clubs know how many of them will be relegated before the season starts.

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