Johnson names his final day

Two of rugby's most high-profile players are in opposition for the last time at Twickenham in June. For Jonah Lomu the match will be the chance to step out of the shadows of a serious illness. For Martin Johnson it will be the final first-class match before England's World Cup-winning captain calls it a day.

The game on June 4 between a northern hemisphere XV and a southern hemisphere XV will be the first the former All Black has played since his kidney transplant last July.

Lomu, who turns 30 this year, has suffered from nephrotic syndrome. As he said yesterday: "I went through a period when I was not able to walk to the bathroom. I used to take two steps and fall over. Now I can run."

His doctor, John Mayhew, has said: "It's almost frightening to think what he could have been had he not played so much of his career with a huge medical handbrake."

But the career of Johnson, who will be 35 when he steps out at Twickenham for the final time, has been in overdrive since the age of 22 when he made a quick trip down the M1 to make his Test debut against France the following day.

Johnson was a late replacement for Wade Dooley that day and subsequently earned 83 more England caps, finishing at the top 14 months ago with that epic World Cup win in Sydney. In between Johnson became the first man to lead the Lions twice, victoriously in South Africa in 1997 and frustratingly falling short in Australia four years later.

Yesterday's announcement that the game on June 4 will be Johnson's last will rob the English landscape of its most enduring and sometimes controversial figures.

A formidable athlete, the Leicester lock knows that life is difficult in the Premiership and Heineken Cup when so many miles are on the clock. "It's a very personal thing. Some guys may be happy to play at 45 but the Premiership is a harsh, unforgiving envi ronment. You can't slog away on the training pitch day in, day out with 18- and 19-year-old kids if your mind is not fully on the game. And, while Leicester will always be my club, I don't want to be hanging around the training ground giving people advice."

The June 4 game kicks off a few hours after the 2005 Lions finish the first game of their New Zealand tour and will finally end any forlorn hopes that Johnson would be persuaded by Sir Clive Woodward to make a fourth Lions' trip.

"I found the speculation a bit embarrassing, to be honest. If the Lions need me, then they really are in trouble. There are at least two quality second-rows in Ireland and lock is still an area of strength in this country. Neil Back will still be saying he's the best flanker around at the age of 60 and he'll never rule himself out and Lawrence Dallaglio is a few years younger than me and can still play a part. Physically I could still play next year but I now want to move on, even though I'll desperately miss playing."

For Lomu the return to Twickenham will be the chance, as he says, to "set my soul at peace". Playing such a brutal sport is a risk even for this remarkable athlete who says he is driven on by the example of his sporting hero, Muhammad Ali.

Twickenham, though, is a suitable stage for what will be the most heart-warming sporting comeback of the year. It will be almost exactly 10 years since Lomu destroyed England's hopes with four tries against them in a World Cup semi-final in Cape Town. Four years later his try condemned England to an early World Cup defeat at Twickenham that ultimately set them on course for a quarter-final departure at the hands of the Springboks. "I've never managed to lay a hand on him in anger," said Johnson. "Hopefully I can catch him for the first and last time this June."