All Black greats united to pay tribute to Jonah Lomu with a powerful haka as thousands of fans packed a memorial service at New Zealand rugby’s spiritual home, Eden Park.
A grim-faced Buck Shelford led more than 20 former internationals in a “Ka Mate” haka yesterday while the legendary winger’s casket was carried into a hearse.
Former team-mates including Tana Umaga, Justin Marshall and John Kirwan joined the emotional tribute on the same turf that Lomu once dominated as a player.
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A Maori mourning chant echoed around the Auckland stadium as Lomu’s black casket was carried through the players’ tunnel carried by pallbearers, including former All Blacks Michael Jones, Frank Bunce, Joeli Vidiri and Jerome Kaino.
Lomu’s wife Nadene and sons Brayley, 6, and Dhyreille, 5, wearing black shirts with the winger’s No11, followed with heads bowed.
Rush began by saying he and his friend had always taken the mickey out of one another, “and that’s not going to change now”, promising to “tell a few stories about the big fella, and hope he doesn’t sit up”.
Rush added he always “knew that Jonah was going to play well when the nostrils flared up because he took all the oxygen so nobody could use it”.
Lomu scored 37 tries in his 63 Tests for New Zealand, becoming rugby’s first global superstar with a combination of raw speed and brute strength.
He died unexpectedly at his Auckland home this month aged just 40 from cardiac arrest related to the chronic kidney disease that cut short his playing career.
World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset made the trip from France to pay his respects to a man he said helped bring the sport into the professional era.
“He’s an icon in rugby and I have to represent all the fans that Jonah had in the world,” he said.
“This fantastic man delivered a very great message about rugby to the world… he terrified defences and thrilled spectators with a brand of running rugby that had never been seen before. He will forever be a big part of rugby’s story.”
New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key, who is currently in Paris attending the world climate conference, recorded a message.
“He proved that you can come from anywhere in New Zealand in any background and make it to the top,” Key said.
