Lomu set to crash back into gear

By WYNNE GRAY

His rugby philosophy is uncomplicated - Jonah Lomu knows that if he concentrates on his game and plays well, then he is doing his job.

He does not want to get sidetracked thinking too much about the opposition.

He wants to make his own imprint, to cause them the anxiety, to make them worry, rather than the other way round.

Those thoughts have been building for Lomu's return to the left wing for today's test against Argentina in Christchurch.

Worrying about his marker, Gonzalo Camardon, has been of little consequence. He knows little about him and his only solid knowledge of Argentine rugby players has concerned the legendary Hugo Porta.

Lomu said he had never been a great student of rugby and the game's heroes, as he showed by recalling his start in the sport.

At school, he was picked to travel to Te Kuiti to play in his first rugby tournament. He was raw and definitely oblivious to much of the history of the game as he listened to tales at the Te Kuiti Rugby Club.

Everyone talked about Pinetree.

"I said, 'Who's Pinetree?' because I had been playing rugby league until then and it was my first rugby tour. They then found out who to billet me with - it was Glyn Meads," he laughed.

"Someone told me about his father carrying sheep under his arms to the top of the hill and I just asked, 'Were the sheep tired?"

Lomu is relaxed on the eve of his 47th international. He is glad that his rotation time in club rugby is over and wants to be playing test rugby in his weekends.

Playing for Wainuiomata, then watching on television the All Blacks against Samoa last Saturday was fine, but not the real deal.

"The last time I felt like that was when I was dropped from the All Blacks in 94. It was pretty hard at that time, but I had to hold my head up," he said.

"I played because I wanted to play. I could have spat the dummy, but that would not have done me any good. I guess it was a test for me mentally more than anything.

"It was hard, but you get your ups and downs, and you have to do what is best for the team.

"There is a certain game plan the coaches are going by and at the end of the day they are doing what is best for the team and the country. They have a goal, which is to put more trophies back in the cabinet, and I definitely want to be part of that."

"The point I want to prove is that I want to be in the starting line-up every week."

The 26-year-old has not had any more problems with the foot strain which took him out of the late stages of the Super 12. His only struggle has been keeping a measured rather than excitable momentum towards this test.

He has not played for the All Blacks since their 39-26 first-test win in Paris when he fractured his cheekbone and returned home.

He felt the All Blacks wanted to be more structured this season, to have a standard pattern they could return to if games became a little disjointed.

But the coaches still wanted players to put their individual mark on games.

Sounds just like the invitation Lomu needs in his first meeting with Argentina at test level.