His impact was on the rise and spread quickly across the republic, leaving many at home scratching their heads after what they'd seen the year before. Those ripples became a tidal wave of astonishment and among the groups of professional rugby investors it piqued the interest of media magnate Rupert Murdoch.
His sporting eyes had been trained elsewhere until Lomu blazed across his entrepreneurial radar. Sign up that man, Murdoch demanded, "we must have him as our signpost signature in a new era of professional sport".
It was a remarkably fortunate intersection of talent and business on so many levels. Lomu was already starting to feel the effects of his debilitating kidney disease while Murdoch rushed to fend off others circling in for the birth of professional rugby.
"I went to the World Cup in 95 knowing I was sick," Lomu later revealed.
No one who watched his thunderous impact had any idea he was inhibited by his kidney problem, and many opponents - like Simon Geoghegan, Mike Catt and Tony Underwood - will never forget the punishment Lomu delivered.
Though the All Blacks were feted in the usual way at Johannesburg Airport at the start of the tournament there was no special crowd focus on Lomu. He was a strapping young wing with two mediocre tests on his CV while Sean Fitzpatrick, Richard Loe and Zinzan Brooke were the legends.
They lost that status very quickly, while Lomu was assigned a personal bodyguard as his presence at any shopping centre or tourist haunt was a magnet for frenzied hordes trying to touch the young man or get his autograph.
In a few weeks Lomu turned his potential into a powder-keg of All Black venom. The coloured and black South Africans had a new superhero they could barrack for and use to taunt those who had restricted much of their lives.
When Lomu returned home that interest rose rapidly - he was rugby's first superstar.
His time was not his any own more. He had his public and private troubles, but they were signs of a young man growing up in the national spotlight.
Watching him play rugby was a special occasion. You rubbed your eyes and looked for confirmation from your neighbour or a replay after some of his outrageous work for the Blues. In Australia he went about destroying their tackling reputation or tightrope-walked along the touchline as he did when the All Blacks won the Sydney test 39-35 in 2000.
That was 15 years ago. His kidney problems were causing him a lot more issues and he finished his 63rd and final test against Wales in Cardiff in 2002.
Lomu had a transplant operation, with a kidney donated by friend Grant Kereama, but that was failing him as he struggled through the opening ceremony at the 2011 World Cup.
He regrouped and with his wife Nadene and two young boys was an ambassador at this year's event.
Before he left he toured the country in speaking engagements with Brian Lochore, Graham Henry and Stephen Donald.
We talked on one of those nights. He looked well and was chirpy. Managing his kidney dialysis was sorted for the upcoming trip to the World Cup. It was going to be a busy couple of months but the planning was done, his medical needs were organised and he was confident the All Blacks would win.
Off he went like thousands of other Kiwis with hope in his heart and confidence the All Blacks would return as winners.
They did and so was Jonah.
His deeds were magnetic and preposterous, they drew investors and people to rugby in the way William Webb Ellis did, all those years ago.
