Iconic Jonah Lomu changed wing play forever, says shocked Isa Nacewa

Isa Nacewa was famously denied the opportunity to play Test rugby for New Zealand because of a brief cameo for Fiji at the 2003 World Cup, but the Leinster full-back clearly relishes the memory of sharing one All Blacks dressing room with Jonah Lomu five years ago.

Both were South Auckland boys and featured together on a star-studded Classic All Blacks side that went down to a World XV at Kuala Lumpur’s MBPJ Stadium Kelana Jaya in the summer of 2010. A nothing game at the time, maybe, and yet a special one now.

“I didn’t have that much to do with him (as a player),” said Nacewa yesterday, “but when we were with Classic All Blacks – and it’s a different atmosphere in itself – what struck me was we were playing a World XV, and he was preparing like it was a Test. He was in the corner with a towel over his head and his headphones on. There was no need ... well it’s a very different sort of environment. It’s like playing with the Baa Baas and there he is, preparing quietly himself.”

Nacewa was “in shock” yesterday when he heard the news of Lomu’s passing at 40. With Norm Berryman and Jerry Collins also taken tragically early this year, it has made for a traumatic time in New Zealand rugby circles, even in the midst of the All Blacks’ recent World Cup win.

The Leinster captain played against Lomu as well, back in 2006, when the former was playing club rugby with Auckland and the latter was attempting to rekindle his career at North Harbour two years after his kidney transplant and after a spell at Cardiff.

They had lunch together more than once, too, gravitating towards the same popular sushi restaurant in their home town, and Nacewa saw up close how humble and dignified Lomu was in dealing with the constant attention, though he was essentially a private man. “If you think of New Zealand rugby icons he’s, if not it, [then] one of the icons of New Zealand rugby. That will never change. He’s a global superstar. He’d leave NZ and get swamped just as much, so thoughts go to his family. He’s an absolute hero. He just changed the way wing play can be done and I don’t think there’s a week that goes by where you don’t see him running over Mike Catt on a TV in New Zealand. It’s always on a billboard or on every highlight reel show.”