Jonah goes from shy schoolboy to superstar

After another stellar World Cup in 1999, All Black wing Jonah Lomu rejected an offer to play for Bristol for £1 million ($2.8 million) a season.

The lure of the black jersey with the silver fern meant Lomu rejected several similar lucrative proposals during his 63-test career - including the push to be part of a rebel world circuit after the 1995 World Cup.

Lomu's explosive impact at that tournament helped persuade media baron Rupert Murdoch he should piggyback on rugby's popularity and bankroll the Sanzar competitions.

Once the 1995 World Cup was over, Lomu intended changing codes and signing to play rugby league for Wigan or Leeds.

Success at the tournament, however, persuaded Lomu to stick with union, although he refused to sign on with WRC plans for a rebel global circuit.

"I always went with what Jonah wanted," his former manager Phil Kingsley Jones said. "But on this issue I was adamant he did not go with WRC. Jonah was a little confused by it all and did not know what to do.

"I told him I would rather he play rugby league for the Kiwis. I had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing, I hated it because WRC was going against the rugby establishment.

"It wasn't only Jeff Wilson and Josh Kronfeld who were against it, Jonah was not happy either."

Kingsley Jones said he was feted by various WRC agents all looking to obtain Lomu's signature for the venture.

Those attempts foundered as did Bristol's offer to pay Lomu £1 million a year to play club rugby after the 1999 World Cup.

"Money was not the bottom-line for Jonah. He loved New Zealand, he loved playing for the All Blacks," Kingsley Jones said.

That was why the pair were disappointed late last year with the deal offered them by the New Zealand Rugby Union.

Even though kidney problems truncated his career, the pair felt Lomu's lengthy service and his commercial clout should have been acknowledged better by the NZRFU. "In the end their offer was to reduce his wages drastically and he would only receive that if he was fit in February," Lomu's former mentor recalled. "It was an insult compared to what he had given them."

Lomu's new book, which is available from Monday, details the conflicts he had about playing for the All Blacks or cashing in on his fame.

He also talks about his difficulty getting on the same wavelength as coach Graham Mourie when he transferred to the Hurricanes. Lomu became more frustrated and found he did not click into some of Mourie's theories.

Lomu also talks of his struggles to play with a deteriorating kidney condition, one which Kingsley Jones recalls was first identified about 1996.

A series of tests revealed the reason behind cuts which did not heal and illnesses which did not clear quickly. It was a very difficult time for Lomu who was uncertain what it meant for his sporting passion.

"I think Jonah always had some idea something was wrong," Kingsley Jones said. "It was not quite a bolt from the blue.

"But Jonah never wanted any sympathy, he is not a moaner, not a whinger. With a few others I had to keep the secret about his treatment sustaining him and stalling the inevitable."

Kingsley Jones has severed his business dealings with Lomu after a partnership which started when the pair were with the Counties Manukau union in the early 90s.

Kingsley Jones opened a pub in Tauranga this week while the 28-year-old Lomu needs a kidney transplant to regain his health. "I don't know what Jonah will do in the future," said Kingsley Jones. "We all want him to get well and then he might be a global ambassador for rugby or he could go into the movies because he is a natural.

"There is no end to what he might do if he wants to do it."