NBR Radio Weekend Rumble: Rugby after Lomu and Richie

Click the NBR Radio box for on-demand special feature audio: The Weekend Rumble 

The news of rugby legend Jonah Lomu’s death this week was top of mind in the Rumble.

NBR’s Chris Coomer, Rob Hosking, Nathan Smith, Duncan Bridgeman, Hamish McNicol and Jason Walls kicked it off this week by talking about how Lomu changed the game of rugby forever.

“He was immense,” comments one Rumbler.

“New Zealand has really embraced the man when he stormed onto the international rugby circuit in 1994. He brought together a lot of the Pacific Island community and really put rugby on the map.”

Another Rumbler was actually at the 1995 world cup in South Africa and gave his account of seeing Lomu in his prime.

“The legacy he left on the game internationally changed the dynamic of the back line. He was a winger who was built like a forward and was like a battle tank charging at full speed.”

Although players such as Julian Savea have been compared to Lomu, there will never be another Lomu.

“I don’t think too many people would suggest he was the world’s best ever rugby player, and yet he still let such a legacy and is probably still the most well-known rugby player in the world.”   

But this week, arguably the world’s best rugby player decided to hang up his boots.

The two-time world cup winning, All Black captain Richie McCaw announced he was retiring from Rugby to pursue “business interests.”

Although it’s going to be hard to replace him, “it’s good that he’s going out at the top of his game. He was the one who said he didn’t want to limp off the field in his playing days and just hang around,” one Rumbler says.  

Richie’s business interests were discussed with one Rumbler commenting that if he were ever in a helicopter with Richie, he would be pretty excited.

Finally, the terror attacks in France were discussed.

After the murder of almost 130 people last weekend, the world was on edge.

Flights were cancelled, football games were postponed and there was a general sense of panic across Europe.

Was this ISIS’ end game? Did it achieve what it set out to do? One Rumbler suggests the only reason Daesh was targeting Europe is because it is weak in the Middle East.

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