Jonah Lomu: Rugby’s Global Icon
Few athletes manage to truly transcend their sport and become a genuine global icon. Boxing has Muhammad Ali. Basketball have Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant representing them in this class. Football boasts the most on this count with four: Pele, Maradona, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Johnny Wilkinson, Dan Carter and Richie McCaw are all rugby legends. They were undoubtedly the biggest names in rugby when in their primes. However, not even in their most iconic moments could you really argue they were the biggest name in sport. For that prestigious brag, Rugby Union has only one flagbearer.
Jonah Tali Lomu was born in Auckland to Tongan parents. In his formative years Rugby League took up his weekends. But following the death of his uncle and cousin to gang violence, his mother insisted he be sent to Wesley College, a boarding school just outside Auckland. It wasn’t until he moved to Wesley College that he switched codes and Union became his rugby of choice. Initially Lomu was stuck in the forwards, playing as either the openside or blindside flanker. However, his blistering pace was wasted there (a speed he enhanced growing up by doing sprints with a rope attached to a lawn roller tied to his waist). The move to the wing was made and by 1993 he was representing New Zealand at under-19 level. A year later, at the age of 18 he was playing for the All Blacks under-21s. It was also in 1994 that he began playing for Counties Manukau Steelers, the team representing South Auckland and the Franklin district of New Zealand, competing in New Zealand’s domestic league pyramid. His time with the Steelers ended in 1999. Throughout that period, he pulled on their red and black striped jersey 28 times, crossing the line 19 times to take his points tally with them to 95. 1994 was also the year he made his Sevens debut, playing first in Fiji and then in the Hong Kong Sevens Tournament. It was in Hong Kong that he particularly excelled, putting in a number of impressive performances including the final when the All Blacks beat Australia 32-20. Hong Kong elevated Lomu onto the international stage for the first time. It was a stage he would go on to make his own.
On 26 June 1994, Jonah Lomu made his All Blacks debut in Christchurch, against France. In doing so he became the youngest man to play for the All Blacks, at just 19 years and 45 days old. Lomu broke a record that had been held by Edgar Wrigley and stood for 89 years. The All Blacks were beaten, and then again in Auckland. Despite Lomu’s evident ability, the two game series highlighted the pitfalls that came with Lomu’s inexperience. There were also questions being raised over the teenager’s fitness by the media and the All Black’s coaching staff. Lomu himself was having doubts. Having been made some very tempting offers by some Rugby League sides, he was debating whether a switch in codes was in order. It was the New Zealand winger Eric Rush who convinced Lomu to have ‘one more game with his mates’. That game was the North v South match, with the two teams made up of players from either the North Island or South Island of New Zealand. Lomu was a key part of the victorious North Island team. From then on the New Zealand selectors began to understand the impact he could have if given a chance with the All Blacks. Later that year the 6ft 5, 120kg winger who once clocked a time of 10.8 seconds over 100 metres was included in Laurie Mains squad for the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
The 1995 Rugby World Cup is best remembered for Nelson Mandela, in full Springbok attire, shaking the right hand of Francois Pienaar while clutching the Webb Ellis Cup with his left. Aside from that era-defining moment for the people of South Africa, the tournament belonged to Jonah Lomu. New Zealand’s first group game was against Ireland. Lomu scored twice on his World Cup debut in a 43-19 win. The next game was against Wales, Lomu started again but this time made no dent on the score line, not that he would have been too disappointed, as New Zealand won 34-9. The final group stage game was against Japan. Lomu watched from the sideline as the All Blacks ran in try after try past their helpless opposition. The score at the final whistle was 145-17, the most points scored by a team in one match. The All Blacks scored 21 tries in that game, 6 of them by Marc Ellis. It remains the record for the number of tries scored by a player in one Rugby World Cup match.
With the Pool Stage safely navigated, and two of the four Lions nations defeated, they were into the quarter finals, facing them were a third Lions nation – Scotland. Despite qualifying second in the group, Scotland had been on fire, only narrowly being beaten by France in their final group game. New Zealand did not get that memo however, beating them 48-30. Lomu took his tally for the tournament to three with another try. The semi final was against England, the final Lions foe. It took Lomu four minutes to run over the try line (as well as Mike Catt seconds beforehand). Lomu scored three more tries, helping the All Blacks to see off England comfortably to win 45-29. The All Blacks came up just short in the final, losing 15-12 after extra time. Lomu finished the tournament with seven tries, making him the tournament’s joint top try scorer alongside fellow All Black Marc Ellis.
Lomu’s stock continued to grow between the 1995 and 1999 World Cups. In 1996 he joined the Auckland Blues (now the Blues), a new team who were created to compete in the brand new Super 12 tournament which included teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Lomu and the Auckland Blues won the inaugural Super 12 league in 1996, and then defended their title the following year. He left them in 1998 with two super rugby winners medals, having played 22 games and scored 13 tries. In 1999 he spent a year with the Hamilton-based Chiefs team. There he played just eight times, scoring twice. During the inter-world cup years his international career continued, however that was disrupted, as with his club career, after the discovery of a kidney disorder. At the end of 1995 he was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a rare and very serious illness. By 1997 it was so debilitating that he had to take a six month break from rugby. Speaking in that year, All Blacks doctor John Mayhew spoke about Lomu’s condition, ‘the characteristics of this disease, caused by chronic kidney damage, is that he is suffering low body protein in his blood. How he has managed to train and play I am not sure? We have been monitoring his condition and it has deteriorated markedly in that period of time.’ It was an illness that could have ended his career just as he was entering his prime. His reputation off the field had also been rising. Lomu was offered the role of Gabor in The World Is Not Enough, the 1999 James Bond film that saw Pierce Brosnan don Bond’s tux for the third time. He turned it down, choosing to focus on his return to rugby. In 1998 he was part of the All Blacks Seven’s team that won gold in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. Despite the medical concerns surrounding him, Lomu was selected for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, hosted in the main by Wales, although some matches took places in England, France, Ireland and Scotland.
As with the opening game of the 1995 world cup, Lomu scored twice in the Kiwi’s first game. Winning 45-0 against the nation of his parents, Tonga. Up next were the English, who were looking to settle a four year old score. They were unable to do so, as Lomu scored one of the three New Zealand tries as they cantered to a 30-16 victory. Lomu was not afforded the luxury of a rest, as he was one of the four first-team regulars to be selected in the game against Italy. They could not quite reach the numbers they had done against Japan in the previous tournament, but a 101-3 score line is nothing to complain about. Lomu earned himself a brace, taking him to five tries by the end of the group stage.
It was Scotland again in the quarter final, and it was victory again. The margin of victory was exactly the same, as New Zealand finished the game 30-12 up. They were to fall short in the semi finals however, to a France side who had come into the tournament way off the pace. Expectations were not high for a France side who had finished bottom of the 1999 Five Nations Championship that Spring. Despite being handed the easiest group, they had failed to put in a performance that could suggest they were serious contenders. They performed well in the quarter finals though against Argentina, seeing the last remaining South American side off 47-26. Nevertheless, New Zealand were strong favourites. Lomu scored either side of half time and when the second try was scored and then converted after 46 minutes, New Zealand were leading 24-10. For an Englishman at least, the try Lomu scored against England after four minutes in the 1995 semi final is the overriding memory of Lomu, but the two tries he scored in this semi final make the England try look like a walk in. For both he required copious amounts of pace and strength as well a bit of magical footwork to evade the numerous French defenders who were all doing their best impressions of repelling magnets. It was not enough for New Zealand to earn a place in the final, but Lomu at least had done his bit. France’s spirited World Cup run came to a devastating conclusion, as Australia beat the comfortably to lift the trophy for the second time following a 35-12 win. It remains the largest winning margin in a Rugby World Cup final. For Lomu, he finished the tournament with eight tries. His total number of tries in the Rugby World Cup was now fifteen. At the time it meant he held the record for most Rugby World Cup tries; he now shares that record with South African Bryan Habana, although he required three tournaments to reach that total.
Despite the health concerns, Lomu continued playing rugby after the 1999 World Cup and moved to Wellington in 2000, where he would represent both the Hurricanes in the Super 12 and the Wellington Lions in the National Provincial Championship (NPC). Lomu played 29 games for the Hurricanes, scoring 11 tries. His time with the Hurricanes did not result in any silverware. The first three years were disastrous, finishing eighth then ninth and then ninth again in the league. The 2003 season was more prosperous, partly due to the appointment of a new head coach in Colin Cooper, and partly due to the emergence of a young centre called Ma’a Nonu. The Hurricanes managed to reach the semi finals of the 2003 Super 12 season. Lomu had more success with the Wellington Lions. Despite the Wellington Lions squad being almost identical to the Hurricanes squad, the Lions managed to win the NPC in 2000, narrowly beating Canterbury 34-29. The Lions were in the final once more in 2003 but were unable to beat a strong Auckland side. The game finished 41-29.
Before that, Lomu had managed to squeeze in another selection on the Sevens stage, winning the Rugby Sevens World Cup in 2001. He also made four appearances for the Barbarians. The first of those played on 28 May 2000 against Ireland. It was a game to remember for those in attendance, with the Baa Baa’s beating Ireland 31-30. The second game came against Scotland on 24 May 2001. This was less of a contest, with the Barbarians thrashing the Scots 74-31. Lomu played a significant role in the match, scoring four times. Three days later Lomu and the Baa Baa’s were back in action. The opponent this time was England. Lomu touched the ball down once in a 43-29 Barbarian FC win. The last of his four Barbarian appearances came on 26 May 2002. There would be no try this time for the imposing winger, as England exacted their revenge for the previous May encounter. The result was a comfortable 53-29 win in favour of the hosts.
Lomu’s final cap for the All Blacks was earned in 2002. In November 2002 New Zealand played three games in a tour of Europe, Lomu played started all of them. The first was against England. Once again he terrorised the English defence, scoring twice. It didn’t stop England winning though, the final score being 31-28. The second game was in the French capital. Lomu failed to score as the Kiwi’s and the French shared the spoils in a 20-20 draw. Jonah Lomu’s swansong for the All Blacks was played out in the Millennium Stadium. Although he couldn’t enjoy crossing the white line for his country one last time, he did end his international career with a resounding 43-17 win against Wales. Never a bad way to bow out. He made 73 appearances for the All Blacks, scoring 43 tries.
Sadly, Lomu’s kidney disorder continued to deteriorate, and it was decided that a transplant could be put off no longer. Devastatingly for Lomu this decision meant he would be unable to play for New Zealand in the upcoming World Cup. The surgery took place in 2004, and it looked as though that his rugby playing days were behind him. Lomu was not one for giving in though. He needed clearance from the Anti-Doping Agency as one of the drugs he needed to manage his condition was a banned substance, but eighteen months after his operation, Lomu was playing again. Before joining Wellington and the Hurricanes in 1999, Lomu had received some very financially lucrative offers to play in Europe. He would eventually do so when he joined Cardiff Blues in 2005. His Cardiff Blues debut came in November 2005, against Italian side Calvisano. Lomu didn’t score but put in the sort of performance that many hoped he would. Despite the promising start, Lomu struggled to hit his pre-operation heights. He played 10 games for Cardiff, scoring just the one try. In 2006 he returned to Auckland, where he played four games for North Harbour, a team based just north of Lomu’s home city. Lomu then took a break from rugby before taking up an offer to join a French side that didn’t exist when Lomu last played professional rugby. Marseille Vitrolles was set up in 2007 and earned promotion from Fédérale 2 to Fédérale 1 (the highest level of competition in French amateur rugby) in their first season. Struggling to make the jump out of the amateur league, Marseille looked for a star to help them out, and brought in the former All Black for the 2009-10 season. The signing of Lomu didn’t have the desired effect. He failed to score in the seven games he played, and Marseille Vitrolles remain in the Fédérale 1.
In 2007 Lomu was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame. In 2011 he went into the World Rugby Hall of Fame. In 2015, having returned home from the 2015 Rugby World Cup the previous day, he suffered a heart and died on 18 November. He was just 40 years of age. Although Lomu was blighted with a kidney disorder that stole the second half of his career, his reputation as a sporting great can’t be disputed.
Sources:
Book: The Little Book of Rugby Legends by Paul Morgan & Alex Mead
http://www.barbarianfc.co.uk/roll-of-honour/profiles/
https://worldinsport.com/jonah-lomu-all-blacks-legend/
https://www.allblacks.com/news/remembering-the-game-that-made-jonah-lomu/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jonah-Tali-Lomu
Cover Image:
"Jonah Lomu (12-05-1975 — 18-11-2015)" by inmemoriamday is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
