JOHN MEHAFFEY, London | Friday 10.30am.
INEVITABLY one giant man in black overshadows a potentially titanic opening round match between England and New Zealand at rugby union’s world headquarters on Saturday.
Four tries by Jonah Lomu as New Zealand humiliated England 45-29 in the 1995 World Cup quarter-finals earned the Tongan-born winger enduring fame as the best-known rugby player in the world.
Lomu looked back to his awe-inspiring best while scoring two tries in New Zealand’s 45-9 win against his compatriots in the opening round with even the overtly physical Tongans needing up to three people to drag him to the ground.
The novelty element which made Lomu such a sensation with his power and deceptive speed in South Africa has long gone but it his very presence at Twickenham hands New Zealand an early pyschological advantage.
The game will decide which side South Africa face int he quarter-finals in Paris in three week’s time.
New Zealand coach John Hart, his opposite number Clive Woodward and each of the 30 players who start Saturday’s group B match know even Lomu can be negated if he does not get the ball.
A generation ago it was a truism that the best northern hemisphere sides stood a chance against New Zealand if they got 40% of the ball.
They usually managed less than that against a succession of awesome All Black eights but now the position for New Zealand is reversed against possibly the finest pack in the world.
Captain Martin Johnson and his predecessor Lawrence Dallaglio are two players who would be automatic choices for a world XV, the England backrow is more impressive than New Zealand’s and their front row looks more physically imposing.
These days, however, New Zealand unquestionably have the advantage in the backs.
Four years ago the All Blacks shocked the world by adopting an exciting high-risk expansive style with the ball flung outside at every opportunity.
With Lomu, Jeff Wilson, Christian Cullen and Tana Umangaa in the back four this philosophy has now become an article of faith, as Johnson acknowledged on Thursday.
But the aura surrounding the All Blacks which was once worth five to 10 points against an England side has now long gone.
New Zealand have won only once in their past four matches at Twickenham although that victory was the one which mattered, an 18-12 win in the first round of the 1991 World Cup.– Reuters