Lomu loses last chance to impress Mitchell for World Cup

JONAH LOMU’S World Cup hopes look to be over after he missed out on his last chance to impress New Zealand boss John Mitchell.

Lomu, who only recently returned to action after undergoing dialysis because of a serious kidney illness, has not been selected by Wellington for their NPC game against Waikato tomorrow.

The giant 28-year-old wing has been unable to train for the past two weeks because of sore calf muscles. And with Mitchell set to announce his 30-man All Black squad for the World Cup on Monday next, it looks as though time has run out for Lomu.

Meanwhile, Leinster, Munster and Ulster are all in action tomorrow night. The Munster squad for the visit of Rotherham features Keith Wood, who returned to international duty at the weekend after a lengthy injury lay-off. The side will not be finalised until tomorrow.

Andy Ward will lead Ulster against Orrell and said he’s never seen the squad so keen to get the season underway.

Leinster coach Gary Ella has named a strong side for tomorrow night’s friendly game with Gloucester at Donnybrook (7:30).

(LEINSTER v Gloucester) G Dempsey, G D’Arcy, K Lewis, D Quinlan, D Hickie, C Warner, B O’Meara (vice captain); R Corrigan (captain), S Byrne, N Treston, B Gissing, L Cullen, A McCullen, K Gleeson, E Miller.

Replacements: D Molloy, G Hickie, A Kearney, S Jennings, B O’Riordan, M Leek, J McWeeney, G Brown, D Dillon MUNSTER (squad v Rotherham) : J Staunton, D Crotty, M Lawlor, S Payne, M Mullins, J Jones Hughes, R Henderson, C O’Sullivan, A Horgan, M McPhail, J Holland, E Reddan, F Murphy, D Ulrich, J Williams, P Malone, D Wallace, C McMahon, A Quinlan, D Leamy, P O’Connell, D O’Callaghan, T Hogan, T Hayes, E Halvey, J Hayes, J Blaney, J Flannery, A Long, K Wood, M Horan, S Kerr, F Roche, E McGovern, F McLoughlin.

ULSTER (v Orrell): B Cunningham, S Mallon, R Constable, S Stewart, A Maxwell, P Wallace, K Campbell; R McCormack, P Shields, S Best, M McCullough, G Longwell, T McWhirter, A Ward (c), R Wilson Replacements: M Sexton, C Boyd, M Mustchin, N Best , R Spee, T Bowe S Young WALES (v England): R Williams (Cardiff Blues); M Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), M Taylor (Llanelli Scarlets), S Parker (Celtic Warriors), G Thomas (Celtic Warriors); S Jones (Llanelli Scarlets, capt), G Cooper (Celtic Warriors); I Thomas (Llanelli Scarlets), R McBryde (Llanelli Scarlets), G Jenkins (Celtic Warriors), R Sidoli (Celtic Warriors), C Wyatt (Llanelli Scarlets), C Charvis (unattached), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), D Jones (Llanelli).