Lomu

Jonah Lomu - New Zealand Rugby World Cup 1995 & 1999

Jonah was a Rugby legend as when he came on the World Rugby scene in the 1995 Rugby World Cup he was considered unstoppable and the England captain Will Carling famously called him a freak as weighing 18 stone and nearly two metres in height you knew you were up against it if you had to take him down. In the 1995 Rugby World Cup the sole objective of the All Blacks was to get the ball out to Lomu on the wing and well that was usually curtains for the opposition. This was a very successful tactic against England in the world cup rugby semi finals where he scored four tries and annihilated the English.

Unfortunately Lomu suffered a very serious Kidney illness and never really recaptured the same level of form even though he made a great recovery and played a leading role in the 1999 Rugby World Cup finals.

Lomu was born in Auckland in 1975 and made his All Blacks debut in 1994 against France and has over 60 caps for his country. The thing that most people will admire about Lomu was that he stayed loyal to the game of Rugby Union when he had received so many lucrative offers to play Rugby League.