Johnny Watterson finds Jonah Lomu totally relaxed, unworried by an up-and-down season in 2002 and mightily impressed by Brian O'Driscoll
In planet rugby, these are days of calm, days of not looking too far ahead to the World Cup for fear of tripping up on challenges in front of your nose. Jonah Lomu, bemoaning the 27 degrees of New Zealand, wedges his 19 stone of muscle into the hotel sofa, spitting rain strafing his balcony window behind.
Lomu has just placed an attractive blonde back on the ground having lifted her in the air for a photograph. This is part of his life now. This is the rugby road he is walking. His legs are splayed over the sofa's arms and are swinging in the air.
Lomu is not thinking of this year's World Cup. He is not addling his mind in search of the wisdom that would make 2003 more profitable than last year when he started five of 11 Test matches for New Zealand, sat on the bench four times and was absent from the match-day squad twice.
The All Black left wing is a head-turner, an icon and the most recognisable rugby player in the game. Disarmingly, his "interesting" season with the All Blacks sits as comfortably with him as his shoes kicked off and lying about the floor. Lomu has a vibe that has earned him 63 All Black caps and made him, at 27, the fourth most capped player in New Zealand's history. He is not that worried at all.
"I don't think of why going up and down in form happens. In 2002 I was up, then down, then up again," he says. "For the tour the coach (John Mitchell) basically chucked out a line saying I'm putting my neck out for you, so I had to repay him in some way and make sure I played pretty good footy on the England tour.
"I'm looking forward to 2003. But, no, you can't really make reasons for it. It was more that I needed to get more game time, get an opportunity. These days games are won and lost in momentary lapses in defence so you got to make sure you're on the ball twenty four-seven. When I have an off-day, quite a few people realise that I am having an off-day."
In Dublin to launch Ballygowan water's Sports Pack, Lomu can afford some kick-back time before the Super 12 season gets under way in New Zealand. In the end-of-year European tour, he started all three Tests and despite just one win over Wales, the winger emerged with credit and two tries against England.
Lomu also saw Ireland nail the touring Australians with one Irish figure at outside centre catching his eye.
"Brian O'Driscoll is a great player. He has some great vision. Very strong. The guy's a classy player. He has gone from strength to strength every year and he's going to be one of the big guns in world rugby the way he plays the game. If you give him half a chance, he'll take a mile.
"Ireland should be lucky to have him. He is definitely a world-class player. I mean a guy who can waltz through the middle of an Australian defence. You've got to say that's class and he makes it look so easy too.
"They call them big-time players. When your back is against the wall and you need someone to make something happen. That's when you separate a player like him, someone that's willing to lay it on the line, who has no fear of having a go. That's what it comes down to. When these guys put on their jerseys and they can do just one thing that can change the game, that's what separates them, that little bit extra."
Lomu's paean to O'Driscoll is delivered with little awareness of the similarities to himself. A player whose overwhelming impact in a game occasionally assumes cartoon proportions, Lomu has survived a rare kidney disorder, Nephritic Syndrome in 1996 and at the end of the recent tour was rushed to hospital with a twisted gut.
Seven days in a Manchester hospital and he is back not worrying again, talking of fate and preordination, lifting women and declining to parse a difficult season.
"There is stiff competition there (New Zealand squad)," he says. "But in saying that, we do what's best for the team at the time. There is no malice if one gets in and one doesn't.
"Playing for the All Blacks is a privilege and an honour. It's not given to you by right. The jersey is just temporarily yours. You never know when your next All Black cap is going to be, so you cherish every moment you have in it. You should never expect it. You should earn it, work for it, strive for it. There are 3.8 million New Zealanders who want that and you are the lucky one to get it."
His decision not to sign a book commemorating the 100 greatest All Blacks of all time spawned a rare controversy for Lomu in New Zealand. Ranked at 23 on the list, reports suggested Lomu bridled at his modest placing.
"It's nice that people have put me up there with the top players of the game but I don't consider myself an All Black great," he says. "I don't rate myself in that class."
A run in UCD with personal trainer Craig McFarland, a slot on tonight's Late Late Show, a visit to a Blackrock Supermarket and a city centre sports shop, Lomu stretches his 6ft 5ins frame and modestly offers his hand.
Just for a moment you actually feel the power.
