A YOUNG rugby union player named after the legendary All Blacks player Jonah Lomu will come face to face with his hero.

Jonah D'Arcy has been selected to be mascot for the Leeds Tykes Heineken Cup game against Lomu's Cardiff Blues on Sunday, January 22. The game will kick-off at 1 pm.

Jonah, a pupil at Addingham Primary School, is described as a rugby nut who comes from a rugby-mad family.

Dad Chris and mum Anne actually named their son after two famous rugby union wingers.

Chris said: "He is named after the great Jonah Lomu and Emile Ntamack, although his middle name is seldom disclosed in the Addingham Primary School playground for obvious reasons!"

Chris, as he describes it, still occasionally chugs about on the wing for Wharfedale RUFC, where he matches most for bulk and few for speed these days.

Young Jonah is aged eight (and three-quarters) and has represented Wharfedale since the age of six. His dad is one of his coaches at the rugby club and his mum is an avid spectator and consumer of bacon butties.

Jonah is a keen spectator as well as player and he is a Leeds Tykes season ticket holder and attends the Leeds Tykes Summer/Holiday Camps.

He exhibited his hard tackling rugby style at Headingley recently, when his team played at half-time during the Guinness Premiership league game against Bath which Leeds won 25-14.

Jonah also plays football for Addingham Primary School, who have won two trophies already this season, and for Addingham Cubs.

He plays league cricket for Addingham Cricket Club Under-9s where he won the batting trophy last season.

Dad Chris is also well-known on the Airedale and Wharfedale Cricket League scene.

Jonah also enjoys watching (and talking about) sport and his nickname in the family is 'statto'.

He regularly goes to watch Leeds United and Bradford Bulls.

Jonah has attended the last three Super League Grand Finals. He admits that Leeds Rhinos played very well in 2004 but declines to talk about the 2005 final.

Jonah's favourite Tykes player is Chris Jones, partly because he is Wharfedale's designated Tykes pro, but also because he comes from St Helens, the same rugby barmy town as Jonah's mum.

Chris commented: "We are all thrilled and counting down the days to when he runs out at Headingley stadium as the mascot for Leeds Tykes and comes face to face with Jonah Lomu, the man he is named after. It will be a great day for us"