Lomu in line for charity match

Chris Moller

Jonah Lomu would be a star attraction of a tsunami charity match in June or July in Sydney, rugby officials from both sides of the Tasman suggested yesterday.

Aware that the 29-year-old colossal winger has targeted June for his comeback, Lomu has apparently told some New Zealand officials he is keen to be involved in the proposed Northern v Southern Hemisphere tsunami clash.

The International Rugby Board has suggested the match be played in Sydney in March.

New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Chris Moller said the Australian Rugby Union was suggesting two matches - one in Australia in June-July while Northern Hemisphere teams, including the Lions, were touring Downunder and one at Twickenham when Southern Hemisphere teams were in the north.

Moller said there were merits in both proposals and both would have to be looked at. It appeared though Australia and New Zealand were favouring the June-July match to avoid disruption to the Super 12.

"We'll look at all the options. We need to look through the pros and cons of both and come up with a solution that is going to work best for raising maximum amount of money for the relief effort and what fits best for rugby," said Moller yesterday.

The June-July match meant "it would not be impacting any competition in either the northern or southern hemisphere".

"The proposal from the IRB of a match in March obviously does affect the second round of the Super 12 and it probably means the players will have to be out of the Super 12 for more than one week, probably two weeks or two games.

"But that doesn't mean we rule it out. It's a huge tragedy and the need for us to show a bit of flexibility is minimal compared with the effects on the people in the tsunami affected areas."

Moller said they were aware that if the match was played in June-July and another one late in the year they could be considered too late.

- NZPA