Linking Lomu

Prolific World Cup try-scorer headed for Bristol

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Posted: Sunday November 07, 1999 10:45 AM

Jonah Lomu will join Bristol after becoming the highest try scorer at the Rugby World Cup with eight. AP

CARDIFF, Wales (AP) -- New Zealand rugby star Jonah Lomu is headed for British club Bristol in a 1.1 million pound (US$1.8 million), two-year deal, according to a newspaper report Sunday.

While New Zealand papers reported Saturday that Lomu was set to stay in the Southern Hemisphere, the British paper The Mail on Sunday said a deal had been struck for him to play in England.

Lomu, the highest try scorer at the World Cup with eight, was not expected to announce his future until after the All Blacks arrived home early Tuesday.

But The Mail on Sunday tipped he could be playing for Bristol against Manchester Sale next week.

"The deal -- finalized at Friday lunchtime in Swansea -- was made possible only by Bristol millionaire businessman chairman Malcolm Pearce's involvement," the newspaper said.

"Pearce, who heads the Johnsons Group, a family company with interests in news distribution, dairy farming, publishing and catering, flew from New York that day to be present as final details of the package were thrashed out."

The paper said Bristol would cash in on Lomu with lucrative commercial deals. It said the club had found a loophole in the English championship's salary cap by paying Lomu a large sum by giving him a job with one Pearce's New Zealand based companies, which would pay most of his 550,000 pounds (US$900,000) annual salary.

His official wage packet as a professional player with Bristol will mean the club remains within the salary cap.

"Lomu and the club's lawyers have examined the International [Rugby] Board and Rugby Football Union regulations and believe they have complied with all the sport's laws," the paper said.

 

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