Source: Speak Up
Language level: Advanced
Standard: British and American
A Rugby Legend
Jonah Lomu has been described as rugby’s first superstar. A member of New Zealand’s legendary national team, the All Blacks, his performance in the 1995 World Cup was stunning. He seemed bigger and faster than all the other players on the pitch and, in a game against England, he looked like an adult playing against children. After the match the England captain, Will Carling, described him as “a freak.”
Lomu’s performance was so impressive that he even received offers to join teams in American football’s NFL, but he stuck with rugby. Sadly, his career was interrupted by a serious kidney disorder, but he has made a series of comebacks and his latest in with the French club Marseille.
In September 2009, Lomu took part in an amateur bodybuilding contest in Wellington, and finished a surprising second in two categories. He continues to play for Marseille Vitrolles Rugby.
Lomu talked about how he started playing rugby. He broke a record in 1994 when he made his All Black debut a few weeks after his 19th birthday. What is less well known is that he had only begun playing the sort five years earlier:
Jonah Lomu:
(New Zealand accent)
I actually grew up in a very violent part of South Auckland. I used to, I guess, hang and roll with gangs in South Auckland. And my partents sent me to boarding school, to…to get me out of trouble, and I just fell in love with the game of rugby. I guess it’s…for me it was more making friends, camaraderie with friends, but also I liked the physical contact of it.
He was then asked what had been his most memorable moment in rugby:
Johan Lomu:
Still the first time playing for New Zealand, very first test. I guess it’s a dream for every New Zealand male to play for the All Blacks, it’s the highest and biggest honour that you can have, to represent New Zealand.
Jonah Lomu is generally considered an incon. He was asked how he felt about this:
Jonah Lomu:
To tell the truth, I still don’t…I try to set a good example, but, as an icon, I still find it very hard how because, for me I play rugby because I love the game and I don’t like to make myself fell that I’m any different from anybody else: if I can help somebody…in anyway, or set a good example, then I would.
