The affliction of rugby’s unstoppable cannonball
IT MIGHT not be justifiable to describe Jonah Lomu as rugby union’s first global superstar. The popular player, who died on Wednesday at the age of 40, probably did not achieve the transcending fame of, say, a Muhammad Ali.
It cannot be disputed, however, that millions who had no knowledge of rugby came to admire the style of the galloping giant whose try-scoring runs on the wing for New Zealand’s All Blacks scattered opponents like skittles.
Within rugby union, Lomu’s name became a byword for his combination of speed, agility and irresistible power.
Jonah Tali Lomu was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to Tongan parents, Semisi and Hepi, and was brought up by his mother’s sister on the Tongan island of Ha'apai.
The Lomu family migrated to Auckland when he was seven, which was when he began formal schooling.
He carried his passport to sporting events to spare awkward questions about his already outsized dimensions, though his selection for a rugby league trial with a youth team, the Manukau Magpies, was stymied by the trial being held on a Sunday, which contradicted his Methodist parents’ religious beliefs.
The rest of Lomu's school-age upbringing was a tale of a tough, sometimes violent boy. An uncle and a best friend were knifed to death in gang violence and Lomu – who stood 1.85m and weighed 95kg at the age of 13 – used his fists and size to settle arguments.
Within two hours of arriving as a boarder at Wesley College, he was placed in detention for fighting.
But the comparatively well-heeled school would be his primer for a better life and sporting fame. The head teacher, Chris Grinter, gave him a key to the gymnasium and directed him to take his temper out on a punchbag.
Grinter also ushered Lomu into rugby union, initially as a lock forward. He played in that position for the school's first XV and in 1991 New Zealand Under-17s.
Moving to No 8, he played for New Zealand Schools in 1992 and 1993, scoring three tries for that team in two big wins over their touring Eng- land counterparts.
Lomu had no inclination to move from No 8, but his tremendous pace (reputedly running 100m in 10.8sec) and unusually nimble footwork were so evident when he played the abbreviated game of sevens for New Zealand at the 1994 Hong Kong tournament that three influential figures – the sevens captain and coach, Eric Rush, Gordon Tietjens, and the All Blacks' then coach, Laurie Mains – wanted him redeployed on the wing.
“Who would be capable of stopping him if he was given room to move?” Mains said.
At 19, Lomu became the youngest Test All Black when he was capped against France on June 26, 1994.
The world cup in June 1995 – only the third such tournament staged by a sport coincidentally on the cusp of going open after a century of amateurism – was worthy of attention anyway as it was staged in the newly post-apartheid South Africa.
When the just-turned 20-year-old Lomu scored two tries in the All Blacks’ opening pool match against Ireland – only his third cap – and another five in the quarter- and semi-fi- nals with Scotland and England, he and the world cup achieved unprecedented publicity.
Millions of television viewers in the UK watched astonished on a Sunday afternoon when Lomu scored four tries against England, swatting or tossing the averagely sized Tony Underwood and Rob Andrew from his path and simply running over the full-back Mike Catt.
England captain Will Carling described the colossus with the sprinter’s feet as “a freak”.
South Africa's defensively astute gang-tackling kept Lomu quiet in the final, which New Zealand lost 1512, but he would reprise his inimitable scoring style in the 1999 world cup to set a cumulative tournament record of 15 tries.
Though a knee injury waylaid him in 1996, the years from 1995 to 2002 were spent forging a reputation of being able to win a match almost on his own, though as a humble exponent of a quintessential team sport he would never make such a claim.
Managed and advised off the field by a Welsh rugby coach resident in New Zealand, Phil Kingsley Jones, Lomu made a good living endorsing sporting and other products.
A video game, Jonah Lomu Rugby, appeared in 1997, though more outlandish projects, such as a part as a villain in a James Bond film or a switch to American football in the NFL, never materialised.
The most extraordinary aspect of his life emerged only slowly. As he prepared to make a comeback from injury in 1997, he was found to have been suffering nephrotic syndrome, a debilitating kidney disorder.
In 2004 Lomu received a kidney transplant from a New Zealand radio presenter. So ensued a frustrating half of his career in which he was unable to take part in a third world cup or add to his 37 tries and 63 Tests.
By the time he was twice divorced, he had become a confident public speaker. He worked for sponsors and the International Rugby Board to popularise the game and canvass for the admission of rugby sevens to the 2016 Olympic Games.
He was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2007.
In 2011 his body rejected his new kidney and he needed dialysis. He was waiting for a new kidney when he died. He leaves two young sons with his third wife, Nadene. – The Independent