# Jonah Lomu dead at 40 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 18, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855 "2015-11-18T02:14:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/1 "2015-11-18T02:14:24Z")
[Quite a shock](http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/18/jonah-lomu-dies-aged-40-according-to-reports), despite his long-term kidney problems. Here are [his 37 test tries](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO1ZWGm5KnM), I found the commentary for the last one most appropriate; ‘Lomu… the name is enough.’ ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/2 "2015-11-18T02:49:49Z")
I knew he was sick, but that was really unexpected. 40 is far too young, especially for such a talent. Rest in peace, big fella. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/3 "2015-11-18T03:00:16Z")
He was a giant on the pitch. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/4 "2015-11-18T03:06:04Z")
Damn, say him at the Hong Kong Sevens ages ago. RIP ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/5 "2015-11-18T06:38:10Z")
Dismayed. I had no idea he was as ill as that. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/6 "2015-11-18T07:02:00Z")
He almost died in 2011 after the World Cup opening ceremony and has been waiting for a transplant since so it was always a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/7 "2015-11-18T07:23:04Z")
He’d already had one transplant I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Shearer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/57b2e6/32.png) [@Shearer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shearer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/8 "2015-11-18T07:23:38Z")
Tragic. The man made Rugby watchable ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/9 "2015-11-18T07:43:25Z")
He was my favourite player on the pitch bar none. Even surpassing BOD, though he excelled on and off the pitch. I was crushed when he retired, and I’m so sad now, for him, his family, and [the foundation of which he was patron](http://kidneykids.org.nz/about-us/our-patron-jonah-lomu/). RIP bro. ---
**Author:** ![Cumbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cumbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumbrian)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/10 "2015-11-18T10:05:04Z")
Jonah Lomu played in the greatest single team performance I have ever seen – a 1996 win over Australia, where NZ put 40+ points on them by actually throwing the ball wide in driving wind and rain at Athletic Park – seems surreal that he’s gone already. When he scored his try, you could hear over the TV that the stadium announcer, who up to then had been saying things like “Try for Wilson”, “Try for Marshall”, simply said “Try for Jonah”. No surname - far too formal. You felt you knew him. He transcended the sport, and I don’t think that will ever happen again to be honest - he stood out because of his build and freakish athleticism at a time when the sport was just going pro. There’s no one quite like him even now - but the gap is smaller than it was then, so you don’t see people stand out to the same extent. Even then, my favourite memory of him isn’t necessarily bulldozing people - there was a try in the 95 World Cup (against Ireland, I think) where he drew 3 men and then popped a beautifully weighted inside pass to Kronfeld to go over. In that Athletic Park game, he set up Marshall’s try with a chase, gather and pop off the floor to the bursting Marshall, all while holding off the Aussie defender. He had skills. He was a team player, not just a destroyer of worlds. 1. It’s no age. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/11 "2015-11-18T11:01:56Z")
Great player and a nice guy by all accounts. A sad day indeed. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/12 "2015-11-18T16:41:05Z")
He was the 95 World Cup. I’ll never forget it. That semi final against England. Utterly breathtaking. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/13 "2015-11-18T19:51:02Z")
> [@Cumbrian](#): > > Jonah Lomu played in the greatest single team performance I have ever seen – a 1996 win over Australia, where NZ put 40+ points on them by actually throwing the ball wide in driving wind and rain at Athletic Park – seems surreal that he’s gone already. When he scored his try, you could hear over the TV that the stadium announcer, who up to then had been saying things like “Try for Wilson”, “Try for Marshall”, simply said “Try for Jonah”. No surname - far too formal. You felt you knew him. > > He transcended the sport, and I don’t think that will ever happen again to be honest - he stood out because of his build and freakish athleticism at a time when the sport was just going pro. There’s no one quite like him even now - but the gap is smaller than it was then, so you don’t see people stand out to the same extent. Even then, my favourite memory of him isn’t necessarily bulldozing people - there was a try in the 95 World Cup (against Ireland, I think) where he drew 3 men and then popped a beautifully weighted inside pass to Kronfeld to go over. In that Athletic Park game, he set up Marshall’s try with a chase, gather and pop off the floor to the bursting Marshall, all while holding off the Aussie defender. He had skills. He was a team player, not just a destroyer of worlds. > > 1. It’s no age. He had a huge weight on his shoulders as the “face of the game”, too, even well past his playing days, but he handled it with utter grace and humility, always having time for everybody. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/14 "2015-11-18T21:54:07Z")
Lomu was awesome. I loved watching him play, even as i dreaded watching my team play against him. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/15 "2015-11-19T08:36:03Z")
Heaven’s team just got a whole lot better. Although he murdered my team (Australia) on plenty of occasions, you could not help but like the guy. I think with all the talk about his size, strength and speed, people forget he was technically an excellent tackler and defender as well, plus a great sport. He was the first to shake hands when his side lost (not often). ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/16 "2015-11-20T00:09:50Z")
Just been watching some more Jonah performances on YouTube, and reading some more articles. There’s some great stuff out there. Here’s a [list](https://twitter.com/tmurphyNZ/status/666807185058328576) of his school athletics performances. His [performances](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLTxcyarfjw) against Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England at the 1995 World Cup. And this is a [really nice article](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-3323480/Jonah-Lomu-rugby-freak-broke-heart-loved-feels-like-death-family.html), with pictures and video interviews of other players, at the Daily Mail. I love this story, told by Clive Woodward about a pep talk he gave the England team during the 1999 World Cup: > [@](#): > > The night before that game we had a team meeting and I told the England lads that I wouldn’t want a single New Zealander in my team. England were the best and England were going to win. There was a bit of a murmuring and eventually Will Greenwood put his hand up. ‘Clive we have had a bit of a word and, er, the consensus is that we would definitely swap Austin Healey for Jonah.’ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/17 "2015-11-20T02:10:31Z")
I can think of plenty of sporstmen/athletes who have/had two of the following attributes: speed, power and stamina, but I can’t think of any who were notable for all three and certainly aren’t any who had them in abundance Lomu had in his heyday. He was 6’5" 19 stone (270 lbs) and could run the 100m in 10.7 seconds and could keep it going for the whole 80 minutes of a rugby match, it was like he was from another planet. Add to that he was also a top-rate talent and a famously down-to-earth and likeable person. I’m not really a big rugby fan at all, but I would always watch a game that came on TV if Lomu was in it as he was truly great to watch. Clearly there’s no dispute that he is one of the all-time legends in rugby, but I would say he is one of the all-time legends in sport full-stop. It is so sad his career was curtailed by his health problems and even sadder that he died so young. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/18 "2015-11-20T09:26:58Z")
It’s responses like yours that show just how great a star he was - even people with little interest in rugby sat up and took notice when he played. And I can’t think of a rugby player before or since who’s had that effect. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonah-lomu-dead-at-40/737855/19 "2015-11-25T18:12:47Z")
He was the single most dominant player I can remember in any sport. NZ losing to South Africa in '95 sort of puts a crimp on that, I suppose, but then there are 15 players on a rugby team.