All Black legend Jonah Lomu's stint in Wales with the Cardiff Blues was like 'bringing Maradona to play for Cardiff City or the Swans.'
That was Welsh great Gareth Edwards' comment at the time when the Blues entered into a contract with Lomu in 2005. Edwards was a board member of the club at the time.
Walesonline.co.uk has told the story of his signing and time with the club.
When the discussions started Lomu had signed with North Harbour in New Zealand to return to rugby after issues with his kidney disorder which had resulted in a kidney transplant.
Having suffered a shoulder injury and missing the New Zealand season he was looking for some rugby and that's where Cardiff came into the picture.
Club chairman Peter Thomas, who was watching golf in Scotland, recounted he was rung by chief executive Bobby Norster who asked: "Lomu is available, what do you think?"
"I said, 'Do it'.
"It so happened I was on the bus at day or so later, going to play at Carnoustie, and I was sitting just in front of Sean Fitzpatrick.
"He said, 'I hear a whisper about Jonah Lomu. Is it true?'
"I said, 'Yes'.
"He said, 'Well, congratulations, because that is an unbelievable signing if you pull it off'."
Lomu was signed for 3000 pounds a week, so long as he played. He made his first appearance a month after arriving in December against Italian club Calvisano, his first game in 28 months.
Cardiff Arms Park, the Blues home ground, was sold out with 12,000 in attendance.
Thomas said: "I have always said our greatest overseas signing to this day has been Xavier Rush, for what he brought on and off the field.
"But, with Jonah, everybody on the planet knew him. For him to come to Cardiff and play for us, it was special for everyone involved."
Club coach at the time was Dai Young said his first reaction when learning the news that it was a commercial signing and he was concerned that having bought him, he, as the coach, would be forced to play him.
"In fairness, they [Thomas and Norster] said, of course, it would have a commercial side to it and it would be good and interesting to have him at the club.
"But they said you pick the team and if you don't want him in it you don't pick him, it's as simple as that," he said.
There was never any interference from the administrators, he said.
Lomu played 10 games for the club and scored one try before suffering an ankle injury playing against Borders in April 2006.
When he joined the club Young said he was quite fit weight-wise but not so much in running and condition.
"He started off slowly, but then he began to play really well and hit a bit of form.
"I don't think he was ever going to be the Jonah Lomu we had seen a few years earlier. But he was certainly on his way to being a real positive player for us before he picked up that ankle injury.
"He filled the Arms Park three or four times, so it was a good commercial decision, but it was the right decision from a rugby point of view as well. When he did play, he added value.
"He was determined to get back to where he had been and his work ethic was commendable," Young said.
However, what he remembered most was Lomu the man, how nice he was and how humble he was.
"There were no airs or graces to him. The young boys looked up to him and worshipped him, but he was very comfortable in their company. You always saw him in the canteen spending time with them.
"When you meet a genuine legend of the game, they sometimes don't live up to expectations, but he exceeded everything you want in a person.
"I was blown away by his humility, the way he handled himself and what a gentleman he was. He had time for everybody. He was just a real good guy," he said.
Team captain Rhys Williams, a fullback for Wales, had met and been photographed with Lomu when touring New Zealand as a schoolboy with Wales Schools.
"I remember the first day he arrived, it was almost like the same feeling again when I met him as a teenager. It was just like meeting one of your heroes again. It was similar to when I played against Christian Cullen when he came over to Munster and the same as when you meet Gareth Edwards for the first time.
"They are people you grow up idolising and you are just in awe," he said.
Williams said Lomu had time for everyone in the side while when he got the ball on the field the whole stadium was on tenterhooks.
"I remember at the start of his last game, against the Borders, he made a little shimmy and a break to around the outside of somebody and I was like 'Oh, wow, he's coming back'. You could almost see a change in his pace and in the way he could run and manoeuvre," he said.
But to the players, it was Lomu's off-field contribution that stood out.
"When Jonah went back home, he left his massive ghetto blaster beatbox for our gym because it was much better than the little hi-fi we had.
"He left his TV for one of the Academy players and gave his sofa to Lee Thomas, who was a young kid at the time. He was just such a likeable guy and so generous," he said.
Edwards said there had been a lot of critical comment over signing Lomu who was past his best.
But he said, "Make no mistake, Jonah was worth every single penny, for his contribution on and off the pitch."
Apart from his playing impact, Edwards said off the field it was the inspiration he provided for all the side.
"Every day in training, the players watched the enormous effort he put in, how he conducted himself, his mannerism and general professionalism.
"The point I'm trying to make is not only was he a great player, he was a great person too," Edwards said.
