RUGBY: Jon Swift
JONAH LOMU and James Small. A confrontation which has=20 enthralled and excited ever since the tournament drew=20 towards a possible final meeting between South Africa=20 and New Zealand.
Lomu is, to quote England coach Jack Rowell, “a=20 phenomenon” and “the difference” in the 42-29 scoreline=20 which condemned the Poms to a play-off berth.
The young superstar is being courted by every code –=20 except it would seem rugby union — with offers=20 climbing into the millions. A towering 20-year-old with=20 the growing reputation of being unstoppable with the=20 ball in his hand.
Certainly, the first of his four tries in the semifinal=20 against England would go a long way to underlining this=20 presumption as he shrugged off two tackles and then ran=20 right over the top of fullback Mike Catt. It was a=20 fearsome exhibition.
Off the field, he is quiet, treated no differently from=20 the rest of the squad — he is the physically biggest=20 member of the All Black side — and professes a love of=20 rap and funk music. A Walkman more often than not=20 brackets the huge head.
Lomu was brought up in the Auckland suburbs which gave=20 rise to the cult movie Once Were Warriors, but is no=20 gang kid and is also deeply religious.=20
“Not like Michael (Jones),” referring to the star=20 flanker who stayed at home because he refuses to play=20 on Sundays. “I do my praying on my own before every=20 game.” Each of those games thus far have only served to=20 enhance an already huge reputation.
Small by contratst has had a tournament which has=20 vastly understated his massive talents. He has played=20 only two games thus far — the opener against Australia=20 and the semifinal against France — been hampered by a=20 hamstring tweak and has yet to score a World Cup try.
That Small has become an international at all is due=20 only to his tenacious fight back from the land of no=20 return in the teenage drug dens of Hilbrow. He now=20 campaigns against drug use and is a frequent — unpaid=20 — speaker to youth and schools.
That Small has remained an international is due to=20 coach Kitch Christie’s faith in him as aplayer through=20 the trauma of his banishment for disciplinary reasons.=20 “On the field he’s a helluva player,” Christie has=20 said. “Off the field I sometimes don’t konw where his=20 head is.”
One thing is for certain. Small, like Lomu a champion=20 athlete at school level, is not about to be outpaced by=20 the giant New Aealander. Nor is he likely to be=20
“I’d die for my country,” Small has said more than=20 once. Against that sort of commitment, one can only=20 wonder whether Lomu is of similar mind.
“If he is not prepared to give his all, Small will have=20 him n the sixth row of the Ellis Park stands each time=20 ge touches the ball. S’tru, my china.