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Rugby

18th Jun 2015

20 years ago, rugby’s biggest wrecking ball destroyed half an English backline

Will Slattery

There will never be another Jonah Lomu.

Sure, we have players like Julian Savea today who share a lot of similar attributes with Lomu but what made the elder All Black so special was that he was ahead of his time. Lomu was a modern day rugby player in an amateur era.

Nothing illustrates this like the 1995 World Cup. Lomu actually didn’t do anything groundbreaking. He just ran hard and straight and his size and speed proved too much for almost everyone.

20 years ago today, Lomu scored two tries against England in the World Cup semi-final. You have seen the first one countless times – poor, Mike Catt – but just take a look at how easily Lomu saunters past the cover for try number two.

Those tries left a lasting legacy but nothing like the computer game named after Lomu that came around two years later.