Lomu's visit a boost for Australia

You would have thought a former All Black would be the last person the Wallabies would want turning up at their training session as they attempted to shut out the pain of their RWC 2011 semi-final loss to New Zealand.

But sporting rivalries were instantly forgotten on Wednesday when that Kiwi turned out to be Jonah Lomu.

The 36-year-old, who was recently released from hospital following kidney complications, dropped in on the Australian session after their Kiwi head coach Robbie Deans phoned to ask how he was doing.

“I just phoned him to see how he was essentially,” said Deans, who got to know the legendary wing while he was the All Blacks' assistant coach between 2001 and 2002.

“He said, ‘When are you boys training? I’d like to come down and have a look’ and I said, ‘Yeah, no problem’.”

“It was great. Great for some of our younger players to have the opportunity to just chew the fat with him.”

No better person

The Australian players were thrilled to be rubbing shoulders with the legendary wing as they trained for Friday's Bronze Final against Wales, and many took to Twitter to express their gratitude.

''Big thanks to Jonah for giving his time and having a chat. There's no better person to talk to about life rugby and expectation ... legend,” read one tweet from fly half Quade Cooper.
Wing Digby Ioane was more excited than most because Lomu knew his name.

"I saw Jonah at training and I just went up to him straight away and said, ‘Hi, Jonah’, and he said, ‘What’s up, Diggers?’,” Ioane proudly recounted.

“Then I went ‘sweet’ and ran off to the field and told James (O'Connor) and Kurtley Beale, ‘Jonah’s just said my name’. They went ‘No way’ and James lied and said, ‘He said my name, too’, and I was like ‘whatever, mate’.”

Lomu, who won 63 caps with the All Blacks, made his name as an imposing wing who used his immense size, strength and surprising speed to thwart would-be tacklers.

Boxing bout

He is still the all-time leading try scorer in Rugby World Cups, with 15 tries from 11 appearances in the 1995 and 1999 tournaments.

His four-try performance against England in the semi-final of RWC 1995, including one dash to the try line that flattened full back Mike Catt, elevated him to legend status.

Lomu battled a serious kidney disorder throughout his rugby career and his international retirement in 2002 was followed by a kidney transplant in 2004.

Despite keeping fit by training for an upcoming amateur boxing bout, recent complications with his donor kidney saw Lomu admitted to hospital for two weeks, leading Deans to pick up the phone.

Veteran second row Nathan Sharpe, who has memories of facing the All Blacks great on the field, joked that he thought the imposing Lomu was a security guard when he first appeared at the training session.

“I played against him,” Sharpe said. “He hasn’t shrunk much.”