Drift
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RIP Jonah
- Thread starter Drift
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Sad news indeed.
I watched a very good documentary on Jonah during the recent RWC where he goes to SA and meets up with old foes (but clearly now friends) from the 1995 Springboks team. Well worth a look if they replay it on telly.
I watched a very good documentary on Jonah during the recent RWC where he goes to SA and meets up with old foes (but clearly now friends) from the 1995 Springboks team. Well worth a look if they replay it on telly.
TigerCraig
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:frown:
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Jonah understood that he was always on borrowed time and was never going to make old bones, nonetheless, it is very sad news
From the documentary you mention, the most poignant moment for me was his meeting with Joost van der Westuizen, himself suffering from Motor Neurone disease.
A very special photo
RIP Big Fella!
Dickie E
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2 of the most exciting rugby players I have ever had the pleasure to watch. Very sad.
Agree 100%. Not ashamed to say his farewell to Joost had the old eyes welling up.
It was a very special piece of real TV that I think I will recall whenever someone talks of Lomu in the future.
The documentary really shows the respect he had for the guys he played against.
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winchesterref
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Lucky enough to meet him as well - real nice bloke. RIP
Lee Lifeson-Peart
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Sad news indeed.
I remember seeing him on TV as an 18 year old at the Hong Kong 7s in 1993ish playing with Eric Rush etc and he was, to use that well overused phrase - awesome.
His "immortaliy" was assured 2 years later at the RWC in RSA where he elevated himself to a Global Superstar.
Beset by poor health he was not quite the same player after 1995 but still managed to be RWC's top try scorer in just 2 tournaments.
My thoughts are with his young family.
A sad year for NZ Rugby (ironically) coming so soon after the untimely death of Jerry Collins in France in the spring.
I remember seeing him on TV as an 18 year old at the Hong Kong 7s in 1993ish playing with Eric Rush etc and he was, to use that well overused phrase - awesome.
His "immortaliy" was assured 2 years later at the RWC in RSA where he elevated himself to a Global Superstar.
Beset by poor health he was not quite the same player after 1995 but still managed to be RWC's top try scorer in just 2 tournaments.
My thoughts are with his young family.
A sad year for NZ Rugby (ironically) coming so soon after the untimely death of Jerry Collins in France in the spring.
Drift
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That's the most amazing thing, he was as dominant as he was whilst being sick.
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...and of course not forgetting the less well known Northland, Crusaders, NZ Maori and All Black winger "Stormin" Norm Berryman who died of a heart attack in June at the age of 42.
dave_clark
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i seem to be the only person not to have met him...
i was only just getting into rugby in 1995 (my school team needed "another fat git in the front row"), so that world cup is one of my earliest rugby memories. and what an introduction - even those who didn't like rugby were discussing "that Lomu bloke". his running over Mike Catt has become legendary.
whether he was the first global superstar i don't know, but he certainly was from that particular era. RIP big man.
i was only just getting into rugby in 1995 (my school team needed "another fat git in the front row"), so that world cup is one of my earliest rugby memories. and what an introduction - even those who didn't like rugby were discussing "that Lomu bloke". his running over Mike Catt has become legendary.
whether he was the first global superstar i don't know, but he certainly was from that particular era. RIP big man.
I'm just reading Blindside about Michael Oher, who went from a Tennessee ghetto to winning a Superbowl basically because he was large and quick. Like Lomu he was described as a "freak". Such people light up their sports.
Lomu the man has now left us, but memories of him will long remain.
Lomu the man has now left us, but memories of him will long remain.
I think Sky are dedicating a channel to JL for a few days.
I'm pretty sure they mentioned a film of him going to South Africa.
Crucial
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Jonah deserves to be remembered as the man he became not just the player he was.
He may have been a very good rugby player, but he was a great person.
With regard to the rugby side though, what seems to get lost among the clips of people struggling to bring him down was that not only was he big and fast, he had the most incredible sidestep ever seen and to top it off he had amazing balance. He could be swerving one defender and fending another while his body was at a 45 degree angle to the ground, all while keeping moving. It wasn't like he had a low centre of gravity, he was simply an athlete.
One of the gym exercise he used to do was dumb bell curls and twists while standing on top of one of those bouncy exercise balls. His natural core strength and balance was freakish.
I think in one year at his school athletics comp he won the 100, 200, 400, 110 hurdles, shot put, discus, long jump and high jump.
He may have been a very good rugby player, but he was a great person.
With regard to the rugby side though, what seems to get lost among the clips of people struggling to bring him down was that not only was he big and fast, he had the most incredible sidestep ever seen and to top it off he had amazing balance. He could be swerving one defender and fending another while his body was at a 45 degree angle to the ground, all while keeping moving. It wasn't like he had a low centre of gravity, he was simply an athlete.
One of the gym exercise he used to do was dumb bell curls and twists while standing on top of one of those bouncy exercise balls. His natural core strength and balance was freakish.
I think in one year at his school athletics comp he won the 100, 200, 400, 110 hurdles, shot put, discus, long jump and high jump.
