Late last night, about 12:30, I heard the very sad news that All Black rugby player Jonah Lomu had died at only 40 years of age. Lomu burst onto the world-scene during the 1995 rugby world cup, and became the sport’s biggest star until his premature retirement in 2002. Few people knew it until later in his rugby career, but he was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease as early as 1995, and so spent his entire playing career hampered by this. He had a kidney transplant in 2004, and staged a comeback which saw him come to Wales to play for the Cardiff Blues in the 2005-06 season. He finally retired in 2007, forced to by health issues relating to his kidney problems. Lomu had just returned to New Zealand from being in England for the rugby world cup.
Jonah Lomu died today at the very young age of 40. He had a rare kidney disease, and had just arrived back from being in England for the rugby world cup.
No one had seen a winger with Lomu’s pace and strength before, and it is fair to say that his size and pace changed the face of rugby. Now, with wingers like Wales’ George North, it is not uncommon to see wingers of his size playing the game, but he was the first of his kind, and some would say the greatest.
In the 1995 rugby world cup quarter-final against England he scored 4 tries, and as you can see from this clip for some of them he ran through several players who were just unable to stop him on his way to the try line. New Zealand went on to the final where they played hosts South Africa. The Springbok’s main game plan was to shut down Lomu, which they succeeded in doing and went on to win the game 15-12.
Here is the clip of Lomu annihilating the English defence in 1995.
thecuriousastronomer 