Counties Manukau Mt Rushmore: Jonah Lomu

Counties Manukau Mt Rushmore: Jonah Lomu

Fan votes determined our top 15 names of greatest Counties Manukau players of all-time. We passed those names to our panel of experts and this is how they rated them.

Number 3: Jonah Lomu

No player has had a bigger impact on the sport of rugby than Jonah Lomu. The schoolboy star from Wesley College burst onto the rugby scene with a bang in 1994 and was thrust quicky into the All Blacks – the youngest ever to play for New Zealand.

He set the 1995 World Cup alight with mesmerising performances and helped launch rugby into the professional era. In all he played 63 tests for the All Blacks.

While his deeds in the black jersey were well documented his performances for Counties Manukau were mostly at a level never seen before in provincial rugby.

The powerhouse winger only played 28 games for Counties Manukau but helped the province to back-to-back NPC finals and was the main attraction that saw some huge crowds gather in Pukekohe to see him play.

Lomu tragically passed away in 2015 at the age of 40.