All Black great Jonah Lomu has taken a swipe at another New Zealand rugby legend in his biography 'Jonah My Story'.
Lomu says former All Black captain Graham Mourie was so intense during his three-year reign as Hurricanes coach that he frustrated the players to distraction.
Lomu says Mourie took the enjoymentout of the game with constant training runs and an inability to read the players' moods.
"It wasn't the happiest time in my career. Many of us struggled with Graham's coaching style. There was too much blackboard stuff. In fact, there was too much stuff altogether," Lomu writes.
Mourie coached the Hurricanes from 2000 to 2002, finishing eighth, ninth and ninth, and Lomu says the enjoyment factor quickly disappeared under a strict regime, the Dominion Post reported today.
"The (2001) season was only three matches old, but already I wasn't enjoying my footie -- and I don't think I was on my own there. It just wasn't fun any more," Lomu says.
Although Lomu says Mourie was technically "astute" and could be a "great guy" away from the training field, but struggled to read the players' body language.
"I just don't think he realised at the time what he was doing. Our coach was strangling us. As I've matured as a person and a player I've learned to accept what the coach says. I've taken the view that he knows best. With Goss (Mourie), though, I lost my nut on more than one occasion."
Lomu says problems arose in the Wellington team Mourie co-coached with Dave Rennie during the 2000 NPC when they tried to implement a defence based game.
"The trouble was, the two coaches were trying to get us to play a style of game that wasn't suited to the sort of players in the squad. It was...defence-oriented.
"We were ball carriers... -- a lot of Polynesian and Maori players -- and we wanted to run at the opposition, and run hard." Lomu says Mourie and Rennie only changed the gameplan after the players voiced their concerns.
