A Quote from a Legend
“I was this guy who’d been racing around down there, on that field in 1999, running straight over people, scoring tries, winning games, having fun. And I ended up so sick I couldn’t even run past a little baby.”
- Jonah Lomu
Jonah Tali Lomu (1975-2015) was a New Zealand rugby union player who became the youngest-ever All Black playing his first international in 1994, aged 19 years and 45 days. The winger finished his international career with 63 caps and 37 tries.
He is often regarded as the first true global superstar of rugby and consequently had a huge impact on the game. Lomu was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2007 and the International Rugby Board (IRB) Hall of Fame in 2011.
Lomu was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a serious kidney disorder in 1995, and by 2003, he was on dialysis and in 2004 underwent a kidney transplant. He then attempted a comeback but did not play international rugby again, and retired from professional rugby in 2007.
He died unexpectedly on 18 November 2015, aged 40, after suffering a heart attack associated with his kidney condition.