Irresistible force

A new documentary about gentle rugby giant Jonah Lomu reveals little but is a reminder of what made him special.

- BY RUSSELL BROWN

Halfway through Lomu: The Lost Tapes, sports journalist Tony Johnson tells a story that is unverified but feels true.

In the months following the 1995 Rugby World Cup, as the game made its abrupt, necessary shift into professionalism, “The rumour is that people in Rupert Murdoch’s empire had seen him play - and maybe even Rupert Murdoch himself - and had said ‘I want this guy,” Johnson says.

It was the sheer spectacle of Lomu that made Murdoch reach for his chequebook, making the professional game possible.

“Even if Jonah wasn’t the greatest player,” says Johnson, “there’s no question that he had the greatest impact on the game. He was the greatest force that the game’s ever known.”

The force persists 30 years after that World Cup, 10 years after the kidney disease that curtailed Lomu’s playing career claimed his life at the age of 40 - and 20 years after the “lost tapes” in the title were made.

The tapes are rough Betamax recordings made in Auckland in the early 2000s by Mark Souster, former rugby correspondent for