FORMER Dorchester RFC head coach Gary Knowles has paid tribute to the late Jonah Lomu, who he worked with during the All Blacks legend’s short spell at Cardiff Blues during the 2005/06 season.

Lomu, who scored 37 tries in 63 Test matches for New Zealand and is widely considered to be rugby’s first global superstar, died yesterday at the age of 40.

The winger battled a rare kidney condition for two decades and was reportedly on the waiting list for a second transplant after his first in 2004 failed seven years later.

For retiring Blues player development co-ordinator Knowles, it was “a privilege” to have known Lomu.

He told Echosport: “Jonah is up there with the greatest players the game has seen, he was awesome.

“He was probably the most famous player the world has ever seen, but he was also one of the nicest people I have ever met.

“I took him to a regional schools competition when he was at Cardiff and a young lad was badly injured during one of the games.

“Jonah got into the ambulance and went to the hospital with him, and afterwards he asked me where the boy lived and took some All Blacks kit round to him.

“Another time when I was with him at the hospital people started mobbing him, it was like being in a Beatles film, just amazing.

“He was such a lovely guy and a shock to hear he had passed away.”