Lomu backing Olympic rugby campaign

All Black great Jonah Lomu says sevens has all the right ingredients to be an Olympic sport. Photo / Getty Images

Jonah Lomu has thrown his weight behind rugby's campaign for Olympic Games re-inclusion.

"It would be fantastic for rugby and fantastic for the Games," said former All Black winger Lomu who won a sevens gold medal with New Zealand at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

"Playing the Commonwealth Games ranks as one of my greatest memories and I just wish I could have competed for an Olympic Gold medal.

"Sevens has all the right ingredients. It is explosive, exciting, unpredictable and gives the opportunity for smaller rugby nations to cause major upsets as demonstrated in the Dubai World Cup recently.

The prospect of genuinely competitive tournaments is an element that makes sevens stand out and why fans from around the world flock in record numbers to watch new heroes making their mark, he said.

"Look at Kenya, they are competing with the top five teams and are now actually knocking them off, while Argentina and USA are also challenging."

Kenya defeated Fiji in the quarterfinals in Dubai, the first of four upsets in the round of eight that also saw England, South Africa and New Zealand crash out. The men's semifinal line-up also saw four continents represented in Kenya, Argentina, Samoa and eventual champions Wales.

"Being a part of the Olympic Games would serve to boost the development of rugby worldwide.

"The top players would come and play in an Olympic Games tournament and would be proud to be Olympians."

England's Lawrence Dallaglio, South Africa's Bryan Habana, France's Agustin Pichot and Kazakhstan's Anastassiya Khamova have also joined the campaign for rugby sevens' inclusion in the Olympics after London 2012.

- NZPA