Jonah Lomu

Lomu in June 2004

Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand rugby union player. He had sixty-three caps as an All Black after debuting in 1994. He was thought to be as the first true global superstar of rugby union. He had a huge impact on the game.^[1] He was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame on 9 October 2007,^[2] and the IRB Hall of Fame on 24 October 2011.^[3]

He played for several domestic teams, in the Super Rugby, NPC and later the Magners League competitions. These included the Auckland Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes, and Counties Manukau, Wellington and later North Harbour and Cardiff Blues. He made a comeback after undergoing a kidney transplant in 2004.

Lomu died suddenly of kidney failure in Auckland, New Zealand, aged 40.^[4]

Jonah Lomu Media

The Haʻapai Islands, Tonga, where Lomu's parents emigrated from and where he spent parts of his childhood.
Jonah Lomu playing for Cardiff in 2006
Waxwork of Lomu in Madame Tussauds London
Lomu (right) with Grant Kereama, at Government House, Wellington, on 27 August 2007, following Lomu's investiture as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to rugby