Kidney Disease Threatens Lomu's Career

Jonah Lomu's career is in jeopardy after it emerged that he may need a kidney transplant.

The New Zealand wing has suffered a recurrence of the kidney disease which forced him to miss most of the 1997 season. He has been ordered to rest for a month and the All Blacks' doctor John Mayhew has warned that he may never play again.

"Since Jonah's condition was first diagnosed we have been walking a tightrope," said Mayhew. "I am not confident he will play again but I am hopeful: there have been times before when I thought that was it but he has always bounced back.

"Jonah is not a well man and it could be that he has to go on dialysis and receive a kidney transplant. That could happen in a month, a year or never, and I am always dismayed when he is criticised for his performances on the field because he plays in a state in which most of us would find it hard to go for a run around the block."

The 27-year-old, who has scored 37 tries in 63 internationals, has struggled in the Super 12 series for Wellington Hurricanes this year and the reason was made apparent when it was discovered that the ailment that had struck him down six years ago, nephrotic syndrome, had recurred.

Lomu's manager Phil Kingsley-Jones said: "Jonah is a remarkable person and people should realise just how great his achievements have been, given the handicap he has been living with. He made his name in the 1995 World Cup and, knowing Jonah's fierce determination, I am sure he will be in Australia in October."

New Zealand are in the same World Cup pool as Wales this autumn and peace finally broke out in Welsh rugby yesterday when the leading clubs and their union agreed the financial package for five regional teams to compete in cross-border competitions from next season, but a dispute is looming over who will coach the sides.

A deal was reached last week which would have provided the five teams with £8m but it was thrown into jeopardy when the Welsh Rugby Union chief executive David Moffett said he could only come up with £7.5m.

The two sides met yesterday when Moffett promised that his new three-man executive team would secure new deals in the coming months to provide the extra £500,000, but financing the regions after that would in part depend on how they fared in the Heineken Cup and the Celtic League.

The meeting lasted two hours, with most of the discussions centring on who would coach the teams - Cardiff, Llanelli, Neath/Swansea, Newport/Ebbw Vale and Bridgend/Pontypridd. The WRU's director of rugby Terry Cobner was at the meeting and wants the union to play a pivotal role in the appointments.

The clubs insisted that although they were happy to sign a charter with the WRU which would give the governing body an element of control over the teams, they would appoint their own coaches without interference.

The clubs will meet tomorrow to draw up a process for the selection of squads and team managements, and for next season there is not likely to be a limit on the number of non-Welsh players that clubs may field because there is not the money around to pay off those who will be under contract after May.