Costello, Foley And Henderson On Johnno’s Bench

Retired Leinster number 8 Victor Costello and Munster duo Anthony Foley and Rob Henderson have been included in the Martin Johnson XV replacements for Saturday’s clash against the Jonah Lomu XV.

Nobok Challenge/Martin Johnson Testimonial: Saturday, June 4
Martin Johnson XV v Jonah Lomu XV, Twickenham, kick-off 7.30pm

All three Ireland-capped stars will play their part in the Nobok Challenge at Twickenham, which is doubling as both former England and Lions captain Johnson’s testimonial and New Zealand winger Lomu’s comeback game.

Recently departed Leinster fly-half David Holwell is to figure for a strong-looking Lomu XV, which includes 21 former internationals in the panel.

Lomu, who turned 30 last month, will be playing ‘international’ rugby for the first time in almost three years in London, following a successful kidney transplant last July.

Martin Johnson said of the match, which is part of the weekend-long Emirates IRB London Sevens tournament: “We’ve planned this game for a long time but when I came in and saw all these faces around it’s just hit home. It’s great, I’m a bit awestruck really. To see all these players turning up for the game is fantastic.

Johnson added: “I can’t really take it in that it’s my last game and to have a game like this to finish I’m very, very, lucky. I’m not sad about it – it’s the right decision but it’s hard to take in.”

*** Tickets (Stg#15-#45) for the Nobok Challenge match, which is being staged as part of the Emirates Airline IRB London Sevens, are still available from Ticketmaster UK (tel: 0044 870 902 0000) ***

** Highlights of the Johnno v Jonah clash will be shown on ITV 2 on Sunday, June 5 (5.30pm-6.30pm) **

(All fans attending the game will receive a free souvenir programme and a DVD compilation covering the careers of Martin Johnson and Jonah Lomu.)

Martin Johnson XV: Gregor Townsend (Montpellier/Scotland); Austin Healey (Leicester Tigers/England), Tony Marsh (ASM Clermont-Auvergne/France), Jamie Noon (Newcastle Falcons/England), Ayoola Erinle (London Wasps); Andy Goode (Leicester Tigers/England), Kyran Bracken (Saracens/England); Tom Smith (Northampton Saints/Scotland), Raphael Ibanez (Saracens/France), Darren Morris (Leicester Tigers/Wales), Martin Johnson (Leicester Tigers/England) (Capt), Chris Jones (Sale Sharks/England), Joe Worseley (London Wasps/England), Olivier Magne (ASM Clermont-Auvergne/France), Sebastien Chabal (Sale Sharks/France).

Replacements: Will Green (London Wasps/England), Jonathan Humphreys (Bath/Wales), Victor Costello (Leinster/Ireland), Anthony Foley (Munster/Ireland), Will Johnson (Leicester Tigers/England), Morgan Williams (Saracens/Canada), Rob Henderson (Munster/Ireland), Leon Lloyd (Leicester Tigers/England).

Jonah Lomu XV: Bruce Reihana (Northampton Saints/New Zealand); Lome Fa’atau (Hurricanes/Samoa), Matt Burke (Newcastle Falcons/Australia), Daryl Gibson (Leicester Tigers/New Zealand), Jonah Lomu (North Harbour/Hurricanes/New Zealand) (Capt); Carlos Spencer (Blues/Northampton Saints/New Zealand), Mark Robinson (Northampton Saints/New Zealand); Kees Meeuws (Castres/New Zealand), Daniel Coetzee (Bulls/South Africa), Dave Hewett (Canterbury/New Zealand), Greg Rawlinson (Blues), Troy Flavell (Toyota/New Zealand), Justin Collins (Blues), Corne Krige (Northampton Saints/South Africa), Toutai Kefu (Kubota/Australia).

Replacements: Trevor Leota (London Wasps/Samoa), Craig Dowd (London Wasps/New Zealand), Ian Jones (New Zealand), Scott Robertson (Perpignan/New Zealand), Jason Spice (Ospreys/New Zealand), David Holwell (Leinster/Hurricanes/New Zealand), Keith Lowen (Chiefs/New Zealand Maori), Eric Rush (New Zealand Sevens/New Zealand).

Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England)