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Everyone after Lomu London Irish joins bidding war for All Blacks' winger
Posted: Monday November 08, 1999 03:07 PM
LONDON (AP) - English rugby club London Irish on Monday confirmed it had joined the bidding war for All Blacks winger Jonah Lomu. Irish is vying with league rivals Bristol and rugby league clubs Leeds Rhinos, Wakefield and the Auckland Warriors to sign the 6-foot-5 (1.96 meter), 264-pounds (118-kilogram) rugby giant, who came off contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union after the World Cup. Lomu scored eight tries in the World Cup to set a new try-scoring record for the tournament, bettering the record of seven he shared with compatriot Marc Ellis at the 1995 World Cup. London Irish coach Dick Best has confirmed he has made a formal offer for Lomu during 'tentative' talks with the player's agent Phil Kingsley Jones. "We are always exploring possibilities and we have made an offer to bring Jonah to London Irish," said Best. "We will have to see what happens but we have made a financial offer to him and we are hoping to talk again." Monday's Evening Standard newspaper reported that London Irish -- an amalgamation of former first division teams London Irish, London Scottish and Richmond -- had offered Lomu 350,000 pounds (US$560,000) per season. The club's chief executive Geoff Huckstep said the offer meant Irish would stay within the league-imposed 1.8 million pound (US$2.8 million) salary cap. Over the weekend, Lomu was linked with a two-year, 1.1 million pound (US$1.8 million) move to Bristol. The 24-year-old winger was not expected to announce his future until after the All Blacks arrived home early Tuesday.
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