England fullback Mike Catt was the man Lomu famously trampled over during his four-try blitz in the semi-final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. His performances in South Africa were said to have triggered the birth of professional rugby in 1996, with media moguls admiring the speed and power which contrasted with his gentle off-field demeanour.
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“It hits home to me because I am from the same age and era with young kids growing up now and I really feel for his family and feel for his children”, Panoho, who was also born in New Zealand said.
A player Lomu formed a special bond with in recent times is former Bok scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen, himself now confined to a wheelchair as he battles with a form of Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
When I looked across the changing room, or around the changing room and training pitch and then it a Test match and I saw Jonah Lomu in that number 11 jersey it just reassured me that I was in the presence of somebody that could do something great; something spontaneous and spectacular.
THE Sunshine Coast’s Glen Panoho, a former Wallabies prop, was among those to pay tribute to All Blacks great Jonah Lomu yesterday as the global rugby union fraternity attempted to come to grips with his death.
Kereyn Smith, CEO of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, also acknowledged Lomu’s contribution to the Olympic movement and Commonwealth Games sport.
Lomu was inducted into the worldwide Rugby Board Hall of Fame in 2011.
“I can confirm that Jonah Lomu died this morning…it was totally unexpected, Jonah and his family arrived back from the United Kingdom last night”, Mayhew told TV3 before breaking down in tears.
Originally of Tongan descent, Jonah represented New Zealand as a teenager and went on to play 63 matches for the All Blacks.
“He said to me actually from a health perspective he was feeling better than he had for a long period of time”, he said.
“Rugby sevens first appeared on the Commonwealth Games programme in 1998 and Jonah made his mark as part of New Zealand’s gold medal-winning team”, she said. “It’s staggering, a very sad day”.
For the second time in a row, he finished as the tournament’s leading try scorer, but just as in Johannesburg four years earlier, fate conspired against Lomu and the All Blacks lost to the French in what remains one of the biggest upsets in rugby history.
He burst onto the scene with an energy, passion and intensity, the likes of which had never before been witnessed.
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Multiple members of the rugby community expressed sadness and condolences in statements and on twitter, as did New Zealand’s head of state.
