Chris Rattue: Forget it, Jonah, put your body first

You're left to do a lot of reading between the lines when it comes to Jonah Lomu's "comeback" because doses of reality are in short supply.

Lomu's latest injury - the result of a rugby "accident", North Harbour claims - surely ends the mad scheme which had Lomu playing at the 2007 World Cup.

Not that you dare point this out in some circles. There are rugby fanatics and fantasy merchants so blinded by Lomu mythology that they rejoiced in seeing him stumble around Twickenham a few weeks ago.

As for the rugby "accident" - which North Harbour assures us has nothing to do with Lomu's kidney disease and transplant - dare it be suggested that Lomu's body fails to withstand the rigours because of extended inactivity caused by the disease.

Who knows what strain this latest medical trauma, a shoulder operation, will do to a body that has enough to deal with? I've long given up hope of hearing any sense out of Camp Lomu.

Suffice to say that by missing this NPC, Lomu has no chance of getting a Super 14 contract next year. Which means the next chance he has of playing top-level rugby in this country - if the NPC still qualifies on that score - is late next year.

At that point, it will be three years since his last competition match, nearly four years since he completed a full season, seven years since his last triumph on the world stage, and within spitting distance of the 2007 World Cup.

The real mystery is why Lomu struggles to make the most of a new life and do what is clearly best for his body.

It's only a game of rugby, for goodness sake.

Then again, with so many dreamers trying to smooth his bumpy path ...