Eddie Jones and Jonah Lomu: Headline-makers in different ways

IT HAS been some week for rugby. In a period overshadowed by the terrorist attacks that has put all in France and beyond on high alert, the postponement of Munster’s Champions Cup game in Paris was absolutely necessary.

While absorbing the enormity of what was happening around Saint-Denis in Paris, an area well known to all rugby fans — with the Stade de France bang smack in the middle of the district, on television last Wednesday night — news filtered through of the untimely death of a true rugby giant, in Jonah Lomu.

Within 24 hours, another legendary figure in New Zealand rugby in captain Richie McCaw confirmed the worst kept secret in the game when announcing his retirement after the most decorated and remarkable career of any player to adorn an international jersey.