Mon 20 Dec 2021 | 08:49

The final Test try of Jonah Lomu's incredible career was some of his very best work

Rugby icon Jonah Lomu’s final try for the All Blacks at Twickenham in 2002 was arguably one of his most underrated on the international stage.

The legendary winger scored some incredible tries throughout his career for both club and country which are regularly pulled from the archives.

However his final international points demonstrated his raw power and pace as he bulldozed his way past England heavyweights Mike Tindall and Ben Cohen en-route to the try line in south west London.

The match was best known for Jonny Wilkinson’s immaculate performance at fly-half which helped England to a 31-28 win, but Lomu’s brace of tries were simply wonderful.

Having already starred at the 1999 World Cup with a dominant performance against the English, in which he famously ran over the top of Mike Catt, Lomu was the biggest star in the game by 2002.

However while Cohen was on the receiving end of Lomu’s power in this instance, the winger put in a vital tackle late on in the match to preserve England’s narrow lead before second row Ben Kay made a crucial line out steal at the death.

“I’d come on as a replacement for Steve Borthwick,” Kay told the Daily Mail. “I had already established myself in the England squad. But I think that steal possibly cemented my reputation as a good line-out leader.

“We proved that we could handle a pressure situation just as we did in a different scenario against Australia the week after. That was so important when we got to the World Cup.”

Sadly Lomu passed away in 2015 and remains one of the most celebrated players of all time. Standing at 6ft 5” and weighing 120kg he was unstoppable on the pitch and scored 43 tries in 73 Test matches for the All Blacks over an eight-year period.