Back in 1995, All-Blacks legend Jonah Lomu was one of the standout superstars of the Rugby World Cup, scoring seven tries in the tournament and finishing as joint-top try-scorer.
But his former New Zealand captain Sean Fitzpatrick says the former powerhouse winger, who had two caps to his name before heading to South Africa, almost missed out on the tournament as he battled the kidney disorder which he was first diagnosed with in '95.
"He was lucky to go to the tournament actually. We didn't know he had a kidney disorder that was impeding his fitness levels and he couldn't run 100 metres without having to stop. So he didn't do very well in our fitness pre-tournament camps we went on," said Fitzpatrick on Off The Ball tonight.
"So he was literally sent away to train with the 7s guru Gordon Tietjens to get him fit and if he was lucky enough to get an opportunity - and he was lucky enough. Eric Rush pulled a hamstring in the last practice before the final trial and Jonah was literally dragged off the plane that was going to Japan with the 7s team and came to the trial in Hamilton, scored five tries on the Saturday and that was it really."
Fitzpatrick also talked about the food poisoning which affected much of the All-Blacks team on the eve of the 1995 Rugby World Cup final, which was eventually lost to hosts South Africa.
"On the Thursday, we decided to have a meal by ourselves in our team room after training and it was probably the worst decision we ever made because the next morning 21 of the 26 players had food poisoning," he said, adding that it was "unsettling and unfortunate".
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