When Jonah made Laurie smile
It takes a lot to leave rugby motormouth Keith Quinn speechless and just as much to put a smile on the face of Laurie Mains.
Jonah Lomu achieved both with what remains the greatest individual performance the Rugby World Cup has seen.
Lomu’s barging run over the top of England fullback in the 1995 World Cup semifinal in Cape Town was so outrageous that Kiwi TV commentator Quinn was literally lost for words as the unbelievable unfolded in front of him.
Then I witnessed Lomu achieve something I’d never seen before – he had his All Blacks coach Mains actually smiling.
From the comfort of the media benches at the Newlands ground, I watched history unfold in front of me as a baby-faced Lomu shredded England with the signature performance of his outstanding career.
Mains was seated not far away. After Lomu scored the fourth of his tries on that historic day, I turned to see what Laurie’s reaction was. He was beaming. The normal furrows had gone, his face alight with a huge smile. Mains knew his team was heading to the final.
But he also knew he had someone truly special in his ranks. Like everyone at the ground, he was incredulous at the deeds of the hulking man in the black No 11 jersey.
It took a lot to make Laurie Mains smile. He was a hard taskmaster, an earnest coach, firm but fair, totally dedicated to his teams.
Fairly or unfairly, some of us media had dubbed him ‘‘Funeral Face’’ but his face was joyful as his team buried England.
Mains took charge of the All Blacks at a dark time, when they were emerging from their 1991 World Cup semifinal defeat. Slowly but surely he transformed them. While his crowning glory wasn’t the 1995 world title, he oversaw the belated emergence of a flowing style that had Lomu providing the exclamation marks.
Mains took a gamble with
‘‘It took a lot to make Laurie Mains smile. He was a hard taskmaster, an earnest coach, firm but fair.’’
Lomu. It didn’t pay off in 1994 as the 19-year-old made his debut in a horror home series loss to France that hinted at his potential but also exposed some deficiencies.
Lomu’s notorious training struggles didn’t endear him to his coach either, and contributed to him being tempted to give rugby away for the then riches of Australian league. But Lomu persisted, fighting extra hard with his fitness during the buildup camps to convince Mains he was worthy of a chance on the sport’s biggest stage.
And oh, how he took that chance. Lomu’s next test was the World Cup opener against Ireland in Johannesburg, where he scored his first two test tries.
He was under way with bigger things to come.
Laurie was laughing – he and Lomu enjoyed a strong and respectful lasting relationship – and smiles were appearing on more than just the faces of the All Blacks and their fans.
Lomu was one of those rare sporting icons who had the ability to cheer people from any nationality and any walk of life.
His Cape Town capers were the stuff of dreams for the coloured supporters living there, who would rather back the All Blacks than the Springboks.
Lomu was their hero as much as New Zealand’s.
That semifinal didn’t totally belong to Lomu. It was an afternoon of outrageous deeds from the All Blacks as their confidence flowed, scoring 25 points in as many minutes.
Three of those came off the boot of Zinzan Brooke from what Quinn described as ‘‘a million miles out’’.
England captain Will Carling tried to clear England’s lines with a kick which was collected by Brooke just inside the New Zealand half. Brooke ignored the call of Mike Brewer on his shoulder and instead lined up an outrageous drop goal that sailed over. He turned and raised his arms to salute his own effort and then punched his a fist into the palm of his other hand.
It was that sort of day.