Jonah Lomu at Cardiff - 20 years on

Scrum V

BBC

Sports, Rugby

4.6 • 961 Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Scrum V looks back at Jonah Lomu’s debut for Cardiff 20 years ago and the impact rugby’s first global superstar made at the Arms Park. Former Cardiff team-mate Xavier Rush shares his memories of that remarkable period, while ex-Wales captain Kingsley Jones — whose father, Phil Kingsley Jones, who discovered and managed Lomu for years — reflects on the moment Lomu burst onto the world stage as a 20-year-old at the 1995 World Cup.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:07.3	Welcome to the Wayne Rooney show.
0:09.3	Twice a week, Wayne Rooney, Kayeard and me, Kelly Somers,
0:12.4	break down the biggest stories in the Premier League and beyond.
0:15.5	Coming to the Premier League, he's shown one called Play, he isn't.
0:18.2	He's been probably the sound of the season.
0:19.6	Plus, we'll hear the funniest and most outrageous stories from Wayne's career.
0:23.7	I had two seasons when I played as the number nine and scored 34 goals in both the seasons.
0:28.1	But I was bored.
0:30.3	Wayne Runey shown.
0:31.5	It's what everybody's talking about.
0:33.8	Watch an eye player, listen on sounds.
0:37.4	Hello everyone. Welcome to a very special episode of the Scramfy podcast.
0:41.8	Twenty years ago, this month, something that still feels quite unbelievable happened.
0:47.5	John Alomu made his debut for Cardiff.
0:50.8	He was already the most famous rugby player on the planet.
0:53.9	He'd won 63 caps for the oil blast, 37 tries.
0:57.0	And of course there's that 1995 World Cup where he bulldozed England became the sports first global superstar.
1:05.0	In 2005 after a kidney transplant, he was desperate to play again and cardiff became the unlikely stage for his
1:13.4	comeback he was only here for a short time and he passed away of course a decade later age just 40 but
1:20.4	his impact was so much bigger than caps or tries let's be honest he became a global ambassador and a face that sort of carried rugby
1:30.8	into places that had never been before. Today, I'm at the Arms Park and I'm joined by two people
	...

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