{"id":67973,"date":"2025-08-15T03:32:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T03:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/67973\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T03:32:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T03:32:07","slug":"dad-will-always-be-the-best-jonah-lomus-sons-choose-different-sport-to-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/67973\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Dad will always be the best&#8217; &#8211; Jonah Lomu&#8217;s sons choose different sport to rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Move over, New Zealand \u2013 Jonah Lomu\u2019s son, Dhyreille Jonah Lomu, has set his sights on playing for France! <\/p>\n<p>Born in France during Jonah\u2019s time with Marseille, Dhyreille is dreaming of representing Les Bleus rather than the All Blacks. Eligibility? No problem!<\/p>\n<p>Bonjour \u2018Frenchie\u2019! Lomu\u2019s Son Making Waves in Kiwi Rugby<\/p>\n<p>Nicknamed \u201cFrenchie\u201d at school, Dhyreille has already turned heads in New Zealand\u2019s age-grade tournaments. Could he be the next big thing, following in his dad\u2019s giant footsteps?<\/p>\n<p>A Legacy Reborn on the Wing<\/p>\n<p>Jonah Lomu, the original rugby superstar, notched up 63 caps and a whopping 37 tries for New Zealand, reshaping the sport forever. Dhyreille\u2019s dream is lofty \u2013 but not in rugby alone!<\/p>\n<p>Lomu 2.0: Rugby Meets Tennis in the Lomu Household<\/p>\n<p>Dhyreille and his brother Brayley aren\u2019t just rugby fanatics \u2013 they\u2019re passionate tennis players too! The brothers have big dreams, with Brayley aspiring to be the world\u2019s best tennis player. \u201cTo be number one, you always have to try your best,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Why Rugby? \u2018Dad Was The Best!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>With big shoes to fill, Dhyreille\u2019s considering his path carefully: \u201cDad will always be the best, so I might give something else a go.\u201d Could tennis become the new family legacy?<\/p>\n<p>Jonah Lomu Facts:<\/p>\n<p>He weighed 120\u00a0kg and was 1.96 metres tall, but could run 100 metres in 10.8 seconds<\/p>\n<p>In 1996,\u00a0McDonald\u2019s\u00a0New Zealand named a burger after Lomu<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s the only rugby player ever to feature on the front cover of TIME magazine<\/p>\n<p>According to the Telegraph, Leeds\u00a0were ready to make a third bid to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/sport\/main.jhtml?xml=\/sport\/2001\/09\/02\/urlomu02.xml\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">attract All Blacks giant Jonah Lomu to England in 2001<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He played 63 tests as an All Black, scoring 37 tries<\/p>\n<p>In 2001 he helped New Zealand win the Rugby World Cup Sevens.<\/p>\n<p>NIGEL OWENS: MY TOP 5 CAPTAINS <\/p>\n<p>Get ready for a surprising revelation from renowned rugby referee Nigel Owens, as he unveils his list of the top five captains he has officiated.<\/p>\n<p>#5. Chris Robshaw (England)<\/p>\n<p>The flanker is a former English rugby union player who captained the national team from 2012 to 2015. <\/p>\n<p>Known for his exceptional work rate and leadership skills, Robshaw was a dynamic flanker who made a significant impact on the field. He enjoyed a successful club career with Harlequins, where he played for over a decade. Robshaw\u2019s dedication and commitment to the sport earned him numerous accolades and the respect of his peers. <\/p>\n<p>Off the field, he is admired for his philanthropic efforts, using his platform to support various charitable causes.<\/p>\n<p>Owens said: \u201cSome people will be surprised at this one to start off. His misfortune was perhaps to be leading England during a difficult time, but he always gave everything for the cause, encouraging others to follow suit, and he was a nice guy off the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ruck.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/1996486-e1528562371193.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" data-attachment-id=\"58829\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/england-player-ratings-vs-south-africa-who-stared-and-who-flopped-at-ellis-park\/england-v-barbarians-twickenham-uk-27-may-2018-3\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/1996486-e1528562371193.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1287,726\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Phil Mingo\\\/PPAUK&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS-1D X Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Dejection for Chris Robshaw, Co-Captain of England and the rest of the team after the Quilter Cup Match between England and Barbarians at Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham, London on May 27.  - PHOTO: Phil Mingo\\\/PPAUK&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1527440260&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Pinnacle Photo Agency Ltd&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;130&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1000&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0008&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;England v Barbarians, Twickenham, UK - 27 May 2018&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"England v Barbarians, Twickenham, UK \u2013 27 May 2018\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/1996486-300x169.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/1996486-1024x577.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-58829\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1996486-1024x577.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/dad-will-always-be-the-best-jonah-lomus-sons-choose-different-sport-to-rugby\/2\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CONTINUES ON PAGE TWO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Move over, New Zealand \u2013 Jonah Lomu\u2019s son, Dhyreille Jonah Lomu, has set his sights on playing for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-67973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}