Former All Black winger Jonah Lomu is interested in playing in Australia's new national rugby competition kicking off next year, his manager said yesterday.
Lomu, who returned to the game last year after a kidney transplant in the hope of playing in next year's World Cup, has failed to win a contract to play in next year's Super 14 competition.
The giant winger this week conceded his chances of regaining his All Blacks' jersey were over.
But Lomu's name has been mentioned as a likely recruit for the new Australian eight-team competition, which is looking for high-profile players to help promote the venture.
"We certainly wouldn't turn away any conversations with regards to playing opportunities," Fiona Lomu, Jonah's wife and manager, told Australian Associated Press yesterday. "I guess it's not a common move for New Zealand players but ... the competition's changed a lot both here and in Australia and there are new opportunities that could be something that we would look at."
Fiona Lomu said she was not sure how much the 31-year-old's star value would be worth to a new club in a fledgling competition.
"I guess that's up to the club, he's a valuable player in his own right," she said. "Obviously he has a reputation and history and I guess that goes with that."
"[Money's] never been the primary driver for him ever in his career so it's certainly not how we approach decision-making," she added.
The club tournament, scheduled to begin in next August, will feature three teams from New South Wales, two from Queensland and sides from Canberra, Perth and Melbourne.
The Australian Rugby Union this week called for expressions of interest from non-contracted players who want to be considered for the competition.
Lomu, who made 73 All Blacks appearances, has played in two World Cups and was renowned in the rugby world for his blockbusting style in which he would swat aside defending players or simply run over them.
He contracted nephritis, a rare illness, which led to renal failure and a kidney transplant in 2004.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
RSS