Manager bewildered as All Blacks drop Lomu

Jonah Lomu's manager, Phil Kingsley Jones, said he is bewildered at the decision to drop the wing for Saturday's Test against Samoa. The New Zealand player will instead line up for Wainuiomata against Tawa in the Second Division of Wellington's premier club competition. The All Black coaches Wayne Smith and Tony Gilbert have picked Jeff Wilson in Lomu's place.

"I'm gobsmacked," Kingsley Jones said. "He doesn't need a rest, he wants to play. He's jumping out of his skin to play. Doesn't this game count, or is he not playing well enough? I don't know the answers to those questions. In the UK they laugh at us that we don't want him in the team and we don't use him properly."

In Scotland, Finlay Calder could be set to resume his coaching role at Gala for the next two seasons. The former Scotland international resigned after the Scottish Rugby Union proposed a third professional team in the Borders region. But, following a members' meeting to discuss the SRU proposal, the club insist that they cannot support the suggested amendments to the game.