Rugby Union round-up: Lomu's long wait over

Jonah Lomu, sidelined for nearly a year with a serious kidney complaint, began his bid for a place on the All Blacks' tour of Britain in November by scoring two tries in his comeback match yesterday. Watched by only 200 spectators at an Auckland ground which did not even have a grandstand, the star of the 1995 World Cup helped Counties B to beat King Country B 43-35. The giant wing played half the match and touched the ball only six times but one of his tries resulted from a 70-metre dash.

In the Heineken Cup, Harlequins and Wasps could consolidate their positions at the top of their groups with victories today over Cardiff and Ulster respectively. In Pool D, headed by Quins, John Lacey pulled Munster off the foot of the table yesterday with a late try which secured a 17-15 success in Limerick against Bourgoin who have replaced them at the bottom. An injury-time try by the Italian international wing Marcello Cuttitta sealed a 33-32 thriller in Pool A for Milan over Leinster - the home side's first win in the competition at the ninth attempt.

Pau, a disgrace in last weekend's brawl with Llanelli, gave a more harmonious display to hammer injury-weakened Caledonia 50-8 in Pool E with Franck Rolles, the home No 8, claiming a hat-trick of tries. Meanwhile, Llanelli kept their quarter-final hopes alive with a 39-18 victory at Stradey Park over Treviso. The Scarlets failed to capitalise on a whirlwind start after rushing into a 19-point lead inside the first quarter. Their Wales centre Neil Boobyer bagged a brace of tries and Andrew Gibbs, Matthew Wintle and Rupert Moon also went over while Craig Warlow kicked the remaining points.

Sean Burns turned a maiden London Irish win in the European Conference, 26-9 away to Farul Constanta of Romania, into a one-man show. The 26-year- old centre ran in the Exiles' two tries, converted them both and kicked four penalties. Richmond scored five tries in their 37-8 home win over Grenoble, but Bristol went down 45-18 at Agen, whose five touchdowns included one from France's captain Abdelatif Benazzi. Matt Dawson, the Lions scrum- half, helped himself to five tries as Northampton thrashed Nice 66-7 at Franklins Gardens, but Ebbw Vale missed out 25-24 in La Rochelle and Bridgend lost 49-24 at home to Colomiers.

Coventry are out on their own at the top of the Allied Dunbar Premiership second division following a 17-6 victory at Wakefield. London Scottish also had three wins out of three before yesterday's games, but they lost 45-33 away to unbeaten Bedford who ran in six tries while the Exiles' three touchdowns all came from Conan Sharman. Orrell maintained their 100 per cent record with a 30-19 home success over Moseley and Jon Fabien supplied all the points for Exeter in their 24-20 win over Waterloo. Wealthy Worcester lead Jewson National League One by two points after beating Otley 27-12.