London Irish's former full-back Jarrod Cunningham, the Zurich Premiership's leading points scorer only two seasons ago, has been diagnosed as suffering from motor neurone disease at the age of 33.

The New Zealand-born Cunningham, a hugely gifted natural sportsman and popular squad member, noticed changes to his body earlier this year and tests at London's Charing Cross hospital have confirmed he has the incurable muscle-wasting disease that killed, among others, David Niven, Don Revie, Leonard Cheshire and Jill Tweedie.

Cunningham, who played 82 games for Irish after joining from Wellington Hurricanes, scored 324 points for the Exiles in the 1999-2000 season and had been on the brink of signing for Wasps this summer.

"All of us who played and worked with Jarrod are shocked at the news," said the Exiles' director of rugby Conor O'Shea, who plans to help raise funds to support his former team-mate. "That he competed in the Premiership with this illness less than 12 months ago shows what an outstanding rugby player he was."

Motor neurone disease affects the nerve cells along which the brain sends instructions to muscles, in the brain and spinal cord. Degeneration of the motor neurones leads to weakness and wasting of muscles.

The Cardiff director of rugby Rudy Joubert's immediate coaching future is in the balance following an approach by the South African Rugby Football Union, who want him to return home to coach a Super 12 team next year.

Joubert, narrowly edged out of the Springbok job by Rudolf Straeuli, still has a year on his Cardiff contract but has ambitions to coach at international level and could be tempted to return to South Africa.

The Springboks, meanwhile, have named the uncapped Free State back-rower Hendro Scholtz in their squad of 24 for next week's Tri Nations game against New Zealand in Wellington.

The European champions Leicester, who have already captured the French prop Franck Tournaire, have also signed the Munster scrum-half Tom Tierney and the former Wales Under-19 hooker Rhys Williams. The Tigers also confirmed that they have agreed a three-year £1m sponsorship deal with the landscaping company Bradstone.

South Africa squad : Barry, Conradie, De Kock, Greeff, Hall, Jacobs, Joubert, Paulse, Pretorius, Russell, Terblanche, Dalton, Du Preez, Labuschagne, Krige, Le Roux, Matfield, Meyer, Rautenbach, Scholtz, Sephaka, Skinstad, Van Niekerk, Venter.