‘Jonah Lomu was different level, a god in the sport’ – Brian O’Driscoll hails All Blacks legend as unseen footage of rugby’s greatest emerges in new documentary
Jonah Lomu scored four tries for the All Blacks in the 1995 Rugby World Cup semi-final against England.
Tommy Freeman was not to know it coincided with the first screening of a new Jonah Lomu documentary showing in graphic detail the perils of winding up a New Zealand winger.
Headlines on Monday evening claiming the Northampton star wants to “make life a misery for Sevu Reece and the All Blacks” when England host the men in black on Saturday.
The context was Reece saying he was unaware of who Freeman was before they faced each other in the summer. Reminded of that, the Saints ace responded: “Hopefully if I can make his game a misery it’s a win for me and that will make him remember me potentially”.
The story of Jonah Lomu
In a preview cinema in central London, Jonah Lomu: The Lost Tapes was telling the story of rugby’s greatest star and had just reached the 1995 World Cup semi-final.
“I was quite surprised as to how bullish England were,” Kiwi commentator Tony Johnson told the camera. “They were very confident.
“Tony Underwood was making comments along the lines of ‘well, he hasn’t played against me yet, sort of thing’. You know, semi-joking, probably, but still there was an underlying confidence there.”
Lomu is then seen saying ‘I was getting angrier and angrier by the minute’ and, after England wing Underwood winks at him during the haka, ‘I’m going to wipe that wink off his face’.
We all know what happened next. A rampaging Lomu scored four tries as England were blown away at Newlands Stadium in the Cape Town sunshine, the single most devastating individual performance in rugby history.
Fortunately for Steve Borthwick’s England, and New Zealand‘s other upcoming opponents, the late Lomu was a glorious one-off. There is no player to compare, although Antoine Dupont is making a decent run at it.
England announce team to face All Blacks at Twickenham this weekend
This excellent 60-minute documentary, produced by All3Media’s 3 Rock Productions for TNT Sports, reminds us of the fact through very personal and previously unseen footage.
It shows Lomu in his true light: a gentle, humble giant off the field – a force of nature, without equal, on it.
“Jonah came onto the world scene in 1995 and he changed the game,” Brian O’Driscoll, rugby great and co-founder of 3 Rock Productions, said as he introduced the film.
“From amateur to professionalism it felt like we almost piggy backed on him, on his brand, on his humility, on all of the qualities he had.
“I was lucky enough – well unlucky – to get to play against him on three occasions. The first time New Zealand did a play I knew was coming: 10 to 12, behind 13 to Jonah. I knew it was coming. And I tried my very best, I really did. But I was nothing more than a speed bump in the road for him.”
O’Driscoll added: “He was different from anything we’d seen before 1995 and I don’t know if we’re ever going to see someone make such a huge difference to the sport.
Lomu was just different level
“Antoine Dupont at the moment is probably trying to undo a little bit of that but, for me, Jonah Lomu was just different level. Someone who was a god in the sport. He brought something totally different that the game had never seen previously.”
Fiona Taylor, Lomu’s second wife, perhaps puts it best. “He had an X-factor and when he entered a room the room stopped,” she says. “Muhammad Ali, David Beckham, Usain Bolt. He was that kind of level.”
Lomu died in November 2015 aged 40 from a heart attack associated with the kidney condition nephrotic syndrome, which was first diagnosed with in 1995.
To the end he was a class act and this intimate portrayal is a precious reminder of that.
The last words go to the man himself. “I just hope that they think of me as a guy who loved playing the game,” he says.
That, and so much more.
