Rotorua principal started Lomu on path to stardom

1.00pm

Jonah Lomu's story would have been very different if it wasn't for rugby and current Rotorua Boys' High School principal Chris Grinter.

Lomu was discovered by the then Wesley College deputy headmaster and first 15 coach before the world-famous All Black had played a single game of rugby.

"On his way out from (the) chapel he'd seen me playing basketball in the courtyards, he asked me if I was interested in playing lock for the first 15 and to be down at field three.

"I went down and had a crack at it and made it in ... ," Lomu told The Daily Post.

Eighty minutes later Jonah Lomu, troubled teenager, was moving on a path that would eventually take him around the world and to stardom.

"There definitely would have been a totally different story if it wasn't for rugby and Chris Grinter -- there wouldn't have been a Jonah," Lomu said.

His family and friends were very proud of that first rugby moment, which set the teenager on his way to becoming one of the greatest left wingers to have pulled on the No 11 All Blacks jersey.

Lomu describes Grinter's involvement in his life in more detail in his book "Jonah - My Story" which he is promoting around the country.

The book has publicised his sometimes violent struggle with his father and life on the streets as a fleeting thug who was becoming infamous with police before taking his life in a different direction through sport under Grinter's guidance.

Grinter had already started helping shape Lomu's life in 1988 when the "angry" third former, who was teetering on all things bad, was given an outlet for his rage -- a punching bag.

The deputy headmaster was in charge of discipline at the school and Lomu admits he got to know Grinter very well in that first year.

"It didn't take Chris very long to recognise that I had arrived at Wesley with an attitude. He decided I needed to channel my anger and aggression in a more positive way.

"The answer was simple. He went out and bought me a punching bag," Lomu's book says.

The bag was kept in an old storeroom and Lomu would get the keys whenever he needed to bash out his frustrations. Sometimes he needed it three or four times before lunch.

Lomu was a "leaguey" when he showed up at rugby-mad Wesley.

Grinter gave Lomu permission to keep playing league in that third-form year but in return, asked the boy to consider playing rugby the following year.

Lomu never forgot that promise and that day on field three at Wesley College he played the first of many games.

By the time he left the South Auckland school he had risen to headboy and was a sporting star who had represented New Zealand at under-17 and secondary schools level. He also held a number of athletics records for sprinting and throwing.

One of the highlights of schoolboy rugby for Lomu was scoring five tries in a match in his final year -- against Rotorua Boys' High School.

At his peak Lomu enjoyed worldwide fame as a rugby player but illness forced him from the field.

Lomu's illness saw everyday activities becoming a struggle. He needed help just to walk.

But on Tuesday he said things were much better and he was now walking unaided and able to undertake some exercises like squats.

Lomu, who has played 199 first class games, won't give up hope of taking the rugby field again.

"It's not about being desperate to play again, I just want to finish something I started. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. If it isn't, it isn't."

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)