Blood and Thunder: The Jonah Lomu Story - Tapa dura

A major biography of the New Zealand rugby international timed to be published alongside the Rugby World Cup

Will Carling called him a freak and even the toughest sportsmen have been known to step to one side when he thunders down the field. Jonah Lomu is not a player to argue with. From his gangland childhood, which included seeing an uncle murdered, he has learnt life the hard way. The scars on his arms and his body are a constant reminder of where he came from.

Yet Lomu is not only the All Blacks toughest guy. Central to his life is his Christian faith with reveals a totally different side to his personality. The hard man of sport is also the hero of school boys and community leaders for his stand against drugs and violence. His battle against injury is an example of his courage and determination.

BLOOD AND THUNDER explores the life, the sport and the contradictions in Jonah Lomu, the man who would win the World Cup.

In every way, Jonah Lomu is the big man of rugby: the most feared winger in the history of the game. He is the man with the muscle and mind of his own who proves that with a will to win you can come from nowhere and succeed.

'Blood and Thunder' describes Jonah Lomu's troubled childhood in a poor and vicious district of South Auckland, and speaks about the horror of seeing the decapitated bodies of his uncle and cousin., murdered in a frenzied machete attack. It tells of the violent gang wars and knife attacks that prompted his mother to send Jonah away to college where, at the age of twelve, he was steered into rugby and saved from a life of crime and possible early death.

Going behind the headlines, 'Blood and Thunder' presents a vivid portrait of Jonah the athlete and Jonah the man. It reveals the anguish of his personal battle against a career threatened by kidney disease. As a modern day Goliath, six foot five inches and eighteen stone, his faith in God is more important to him than the game of Rugby. A living contradiction, his story is as fascinating as it is unique.