Jonah Lomu: new documentary reveals hidden toll of illness

A new documentary on Jonah Lomu has reached cinemas, revealing the toll the winger's illness took behind the try-scoring highlights that made him a star. Nadene Lomu, his widow, took legal action in an unsuccessful bid to stop the project and took no part in it herself.

The film draws on archive footage and new interviews, including one with John Mayhew, the former All Blacks doctor who was close to Lomu during his playing days. Mayhew, who died in April, spoke about a player whose condition was kept hidden from teammates and coaching staff for years.

«I’m disappointed he didn’t have the life he deserved to have. I wonder, even [with] the magnificent gifts he had, whether he was ever truly happy.»

Lomu's kidney disease led to a transplant and contributed to his death from a heart attack in 2015, at the age of 40. He remains best remembered for the 1995 World Cup semi-final in Cape Town, where he ran through and over England full-back Mike Catt