Jonah Lomu's stunning displays of goodwill: 'He exceeded everything you want in a person'
Previously untold stories of Jonah Lomu’s incredible generosity have emerged from one of the final stops on his rugby journey.
Lomu joined the Cardiff Blues in October 2005, three years after he had won the last of his 73 All Blacks caps, hoping to rediscover some of his old magic after a run of injuries and a serious kidney disorder, which eventually led to his tragic death in 2015.
He played 10 games for the Welsh side, earning £3,000 a week, and drew thousands of fans to Cardiff’s games. While he only scored one try in 10 games before having to leave the club due to an ankle injury in April 2006, Lomu had an enormous influence off the field.
Speaking to Wales Online, several high-profile figures involved with the club at the time recalled how Lomu’s kind nature shone through.
Cardiff’s coach at the time, Dai Young, said the coaches and players at the club were “blown away” by how generous and down to earth Lomu was, considering his worldwide fame.
“We were all blown away by how nice a bloke he was and how humble he was for somebody who was such a superstar in the game,” Young told Wales Online.
“There were no airs and graces to him. The young boys looked up to him and worshipped him, but he was very comfortable in their company. You always saw him in the canteen spending time with them.
“He didn’t talk about the struggles he’d been through, but of course we knew about it.
“We’d all watched it and to see him back playing again was inspiring in itself.”
Young recalled several moments which showcased Lomu’s generosity.
“A lot of the younger guys were on small contracts and a couple of them had boots which had seen better days, so he asked them what their sizes were and sorted them out with new ones.
“When you meet a genuine legend of the game, they sometimes don’t live up to expectations, but he exceeded everything you want in a person.
“I was blown away by his humility, the way he handled himself and what a gentleman he was. He had time for everybody. He was just a real good guy.”
Lomu’s captain, Rhys Williams, told Wales Online that it became quickly apparent how likeable Lomu was.
“He had so much time for everybody in the squad. He would just sit down and chat. He was very, very generous with his time, his stories, especially with younger kids.
“When Jonah went back home, he left his massive ghetto blaster beat box for our gym because it was much better than the little hi-fi we had,” recalls Williams.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Q5P7mgBD7/
“He left his TV for one of the academy players and gave his sofa to Lee Thomas, who was a young kid at the time.
“He was just such a likeable guy and so generous. The life he had led was totally different to any other rugby player, in terms of the enormity of who he was, but he was so grounded about it all.”
Lomu’s stint in Cardiff turned out to be his last high-profile stop, playing four games for North Harbour in 2006, and seven games in the French third division in 2009, after an initial retirement in 2007. However, despite only getting on the scoresheet once for Cardiff, Lomu’s legacy was well and truly felt in Wales.
“Every day in training, the players watched the enormous effort he put in, how he conducted himself, his mannerism and general professionalism,” said Welsh legend Gareth Edwards.
“He was a gentle giant, so polite off the field, prepared to talk to anybody.
“Not only was he a great player, he was a great person too.”
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
10 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
10 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
10 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments