Jonah Lomu will tomorrow decide whether to accept the offer of a new contract from the New Zealand Rugby Football Union or join one of the six clubs in England and France who have made seven-figure bids for his services.
The 25-year-old 19 st wing is currently lying low , or as low as it is possible for him to lie, in Swansea where he is mulling over with his Welsh manager Phil Kingsley-Jones the various offers which have been made to him since New Zealand's elimination by France in last week's semi-final at Twickenham.
"This is the most important decision of my career," said Lomu. "I will be spending the next couple of days going through everything with Phil before deciding what to do." "We are done with talking," said Jones. "It will be up to Jonah to decide where his future lies.
He has had offers from six clubs in England and France, and the NZRFU want him to renew his contract with them. They have been absolutely superb.
"I do not know which way he will turn, and I am not sure that Jonah does yet. What I can say with certainty is that we have not reached agreement with anyone yet. Reports that he has signed for Bristol are wide of the mark. Jonah will not be making up his mind until Tuesday."
Most of the clubs in Premiership One have been linked with Lomu: Bristol, Saracens, Harlequins, Northampton, London Irish and Gloucester are the most prominent of them, but the salary cap introduced this season of stg £1.8 million has scared most of them off, because the wing would command an annual salary of at least one third of that.
One player who will not be moving from south to north is the Australia centre Tim Horan who was yesterday named the Famous Grouse Player of the World Cup.
The 29-year-old, who was linked with Bristol earlier this year, said he intended to remain in Australia.
Horan was judged top individual performer by a 12-man voting panel, chaired by Welsh legend Gareth Edwards.
Edwards presented Horan with the `Famous Grouse' trophy in Cardiff yesterday, Horan having stayed behind for an extra day in Wales while his World Cup team-mates began their long journey home.
"I will be having eight or 10 weeks off, and not even thinking about rugby until after Christmas. It has been a long year for us, we have put in a tremendous amount of hard work, so now it is time to switch off and be with our families again."
Horan was a clear winner for man of the tournament, a title which went to Jonah Lomu four years ago.
His impact on Australia's World Cup success cannot be understated, although Horan cannot see himself being around when the Wallabies defend their title on home soil in four years.
"I will probably play in Australia for another year, and then that will probably be enough for me," he said.
If Horan does decide to wind down his glittering international career next year, then that will be undoubted good news for the British Lions, who tour Australia in 2001.
Looking back on Saturday's final, which saw Australia record a comfortable 35-12 victory over France, Horan described it as "the icing on the cake.
"I don't think we will quite realise how much it means to Australia until we get back there," he said.
"I thought France played very well, but our defence was outstanding. It has been solid all the tournament, and was again a key part of our performance in the final."
