The big fella

Imagine being six foot five, weighing 19 stone and possessing the ability to cover 100 metres in 10.8 seconds. You’d think nothing could possibly alarm you, but there are some things that make us all the same: you… me… and Jonah Lomu. The world-famous New Zealand rugby wing is recalling that moment back in 1994 when he realised he would be donning that famous black jersey for the first time.

“It’s pretty scary,” he grins. “Standing there when they name the team, you freak out a bit but you don’t want to show any emotions because being around a lot of guys and all that testosterone, it’s like, ‘What are you jumping around for?’ and that sort of thing. So you just made sure you kept your cool but everybody knew you were over the moon.”

Considering that even watching it on television is an intense experience, it’s easy to see how the first time an All Black actually gets to perform the Haka must be, as Lomu says, “awesome… You run out in Ellis Park: there are over 80,000 people screaming and yelling and you’re doing the Haka. It’s one of the best adrenaline rushes that you can have before the game.”

In Ireland for a sponsorship deal with the new Ballygowan one litre Sports Pack, Lomu reflects on a belated start in rugby which didn’t see him pick up the oval ball in anger until the age of 14. Yet, just six years later, he was representing probably the most awesome rugby force on earth, the All Blacks.

“I was making all these representative sides and age-grade teams but I really didn’t take any notice of it until I was asked to go on a trip, to go overseas and play rugby on tour,” he recalls. “That woke me up to the fact that it is a bloody good lifestyle: that I can travel and see the world. So I started taking it pretty seriously.”

Seriously enough to be named Player of the Tournament in the 1995 World Cup, where a string of incredible performances put paid to (amongst others) Ireland and England, whom he single-handedly destroyed with a four-try haul.

“Everything was going at a hundred miles an hour,” he remembers. “It was just unbelievable. I cherished every moment of it. I would wake up in the mornings and pinch myself to find out if this was real or not. I remember the day I got up for the semi-finals: I was sitting at the window of my room, looking out onto the mountains, thinking ‘Far out. I’m in South Africa and I’m about to play a World Cup Semi Final’.”

Unfortunately for New Zealand, they lost the final to the host nation, which the wing admits was “a big disappointment. But in saying that, South Africa thoroughly deserved to be World Champions that year. At the end of the day, it came down to someone’s drop-kick to decide it.”

Just over a year later, the young All Black received something of a hammer blow, when he was diagnosed as having Nephrotic Syndrome, a rare and serious kidney disorder, which threatened his rugby future. While admitting that it was “a bit scary”, Lomu maintains that throughout his 10 months on the sidelines, he never once doubted that he would return: “I knew I was coming back, no matter what.”

Sure enough, he was back in the All Blacks team for the ’99 World Cup but there was further disappointment in store, when an unfancied French side surprised everybody (probably including themselves) with a magnificent performance which sent New Zealand home empty handed again. So having been beaten twice in the latter stages of the Rugby World Cup, it’s no surprise to learn that Jonah and his team-mates are getting themselves in serious shape for this year’s event Down Under.

“At training camp this week, all the boys were very enthusiastic,” he gushes. “They have clocked up some k’s over the summer. Some of them have come back bigger, stronger and faster. For others, they have kept the weight off or lost weight. It shows how geared up everyone is. Over the summer, all I’ve been doing is boxing so I’m looking forward to a couple of hard games.”

New Zealand would obviously be regarded as one of the three or four teams with a realistic chance of winning the World Cup, but Jonah also has kind words to say about the current Irish team. “They’re “very improved and very impressive,” he says. “They have found a style that they are very comfortable with and now they are adopting an 80-minute game-plan to it and it is working.”

When asked if any Irishmen in particular caught his eye, the All Black is very complimentary: “All of them, from Brian O’Driscoll and Kevin Maggs through to the captain, Keith Wood. There are a whole lot of great calibre players in that team.”

So who’s going to win the World Cup, Jonah?

“It’s too tight to say,” he smiles. “The Irish are prepared really well, as are the Welsh and Scottish, so the Southern Hemisphere sides have to get themselves sorted ‘cos everyone’s coming down south. The temperature in the heart of the stadium where the final is going to be played will be about 37 degrees so I hope your boys are ready for a bit of heat.”

Trust the big man to generate plenty of that.