Rugby: Lomu left out in the cold

All Jonah Lomu needed to do in Tokyo was be there.

When he waved, he had them going nuts.

Even now, seven years since he last played for the All Blacks, he still commands the stage like no other rugby star.

Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Jonny Wilkinson, Freddie Michalak, Sebastien Chabal - all have profile; all have their admirers; but not like Lomu.

The 34-year-old is still the only rugby player with global reach.

He is still the only rugby player who can arrive in almost any country in the world and not have to explain who he is.

It's not like anyone who ever saw Lomu at the 1995 World Cup could ever forget.

Even if he had never played again after that tournament, he would still be as famous as he is.

Such was his impact in that never to be forgotten semifinal against England, legend has it media mogul Rupert Murdoch turned to his stooges during the game and ordered them to buy the broadcast rights to professional rugby.

If that's true, in one afternoon Lomu made a generation of players millionaires and he added untold value to the All Black brand.

And yet, for all his fame, for all that he has done to promote rugby and the All Blacks, the New Zealand Rugby Union has been unforgivably reluctant to use him as a front man.

Lomu is the most recognisable figure in the game but he is strangely unloved by the very organisation for whom he did so much.

There has been a reconciliation of sorts as Lomu will soon be confirmed as an ambassador for the 2011 World Cup.

Lomu, David Kirk, Andy Haden, Sean Fitzpatrick, John Kirwan and Ian Kirkpatrick will attempt to sell the benefits of New Zealand and the World Cup to overseas audiences.

But the approach to Lomu came from the Government and it is the politicians, not the NZRU, who want a stable of former All Blacks involved.

It's not clear why the NZRU have shunned Lomu, but Haden, who manages a range of Kiwi celebrities, has his ideas.

"You have to have as many Lomus and big names as you can if you want to sell and promote the game," he says.

"You can't deny or pretend that is not the case but the NZRU have this latent hangover where they are reluctant to promote any one individual ahead of the team."

With Lomu, there may have been more to it than the ethos of "us". His private life has had a soap opera tinge to it from his earliest days. The runaway marriage that didn't last; the saviour marriage that didn't last and now his involvement with a married woman.

Then there was the omnipresence of his former agent Phil Kingsley Jones.

There may have been more rapport with Lomu, more of a bond, had he been managed by a clean-cut, corporate house. There was a touch of the rink-a-dink about seeing the greatest asset in the game managed by a genuine operator but one some believed was out of his depth.

Former NZRU chief executive David Moffett is not so sure any of the background factors are relevant. He sides with Haden and, like the former All Black lock, is perplexed and disappointed that Lomu has been so under-used since he was forced to prematurely retire.

"Jonah is still one of the biggest names in the game," says Moffett. "Even now, he's instantly recognisable overseas.

"I really don't know why they [NZRU] have been so reluctant to use him since he retired. I met him on a plane recently and I had had quite a bit to do with him in the early days of his career, and it reminded me that he is a genuine guy. He's articulate, he's accessible, he's polite and he's great with kids.

"I don't think his private life has been a factor in any of this and nor do I think there would have been any more of a rapport had Jonah been managed by a big firm with a host of elite athletes on the books. It doesn't add up."

The IRB, often criticised for lacking vision, snapped up Lomu to push sevens into the Olympics. The Japanese used Lomu in 2005 when they were bidding, against New Zealand, to host the 2011 World Cup, while adidas continue to pay the big wing a massive retainer.

But the NZRU remain cold on their greatest ever asset. Maybe if Lomu can help generate some offshore interest in 2011, the thaw will quicken.

But it doesn't feel like the NZRU are going to melt any time soon.