Rugby: World Cup unlikely as prop stays in UK

Former All Black prop Greg Somerville has effectively ruled out playing in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

In an interview with the Independent newspaper in the UK, where he is playing for Gloucester, Somerville said: "I'll be here for another two seasons. I haven't totally ruled out playing again when I return to New Zealand, but realistically, this is it for me.

"It's always been a tough sport, rugby, but the demands on people now are huge - especially up here, where the front-liners are expected to play so many games. By the time I finish at Gloucester I'll be 33. I think I'll have to make the most of what's left to me while I'm at Kingsholm."

In theory, Somerville (now 31) could return for the World Cup but appears to be against that - even though he is valuable for Gloucester.

According to Independent rugby writer Chris Hewett, Somerville, since returning from a detached retina suffered in his first game, "their prize capture has anchored the Cherry and White scrum with an authority that has earned him the immediate respect of a local cognoscenti raised on a red-meat diet of Mike Burton and Phil Blakeway, who knew a thing or two about life in the darkened recesses.

"He has turned a tight-head prop as good as Carlos Nieto into a bit-part player, hence the Italian's decision to join Saracens, and slammed the door completely on the promising Jack Forster. Needless to say, Forster has also pushed off, in the direction of Sale."

The article doesn't mention that many New Zealand players - like Somerville - are often written off scathingly by the UK rugby media but turn into world beaters when they arrive in UK football.

However, if Somerville doesn't trouble the All Black selectors again, he may well influence the Lions' selectors who are due to name their team to tour South Africa this week.

Overnight Somerville was to mark Gethin Jenkins of Cardiff Blues, a form prop in world rugby, in the final of the Anglo-Welsh Cup at Twickenham.

The two have met, most notably in the last two tests of the Lions series in New Zealand in 2005. Jenkins was some way short of his best on that trip: indeed, one Lions coach privately accused him of being a reluctant scrummager - something of a drawback for a front-rower.

If Jenkins failed to scrummage well against Somerville, the Welshman could find himself in strife.