Five facts on legendary All Blacks Jonah Lomu

AUCKLAND — New Zealand paid its respects to rugby great Jonah Lomu at Auckland’s famous Eden Park stadium today (Nov 30). Here are five facts about the legendary winger who died on November 18 aged just 40:

At his peak, the 1.96 metre Lomu weighed 120 kilograms and could cover 100 metres in 10.80 seconds. That is heavier than Muhammad Ali (107kg fighting weight), taller than Lou “The Hulk” Ferrigno (1.94m) and faster than the career personal best of women’s two-time Olympic 100m gold medallist Gail Dever (10.82s).

Even at his best, medics estimated Lomu’s kidney condition meant he was only operating at 80 per cent. “Had he been 100 per cent fit, I wonder what he could’ve done, that’s scary,” retiring All Black skipper Richie McCaw said this month.

Lomu scored a record 15 tries at Rugby World Cups, with eight of them coming in 1999, a record in itself for most tries at a single tournament. Both marks were only equalled this year by South Africa’s Bryan Habana (15 World Cup tries) and All Black Julian Savea (eight in one tournament).

Lomu perfected the move known as “the Maori sidestep” — running over the top of your opponent instead of trying to go around them. The most famous example was against England’s Mike Catt in the 1995 World Cup semi-final, when he finished with four tries in the match. “Lomu put me on the map ... for the wrong reasons!” Catt said this month, recalling a try that was later voted the greatest in rugby history.

Film-makers struggled to cast an actor with Lomu’s physique for the 2009 movie “Invictus” and eventually settled on Kiwi-born Samoan rugby player Zak Feaunati, even though he was seven centimetres shorter and 13 kilograms lighter than the real thing. “I called him up and told him he’d better get himself a box to stand on,” Lomu joked. AFP