Justin Marshall: Comparing New Zealand's Julian Savea to Jonah Lomu is ridiculous

Power play: Julian Savea has France reeling as he claims the second of his three tries
(Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Justin Marshall22 October 2015

All the talk that Julian Savea is the new Jonah Lomu is fatuous. When Jonah burst onto the scene in 1995 he helped launch professional rugby and became the face of the game around the world.

Julian scored an excellent hat-trick in the All Blacks’ 62-13, nine-try win over France, showcasing his incredible power and pace, but there were so many good performances and he was able to finish off some outstanding work by the rest of his team.

You just cannot compare Jonah and Julian and I do not understand how anyone thinks you can judge one against the other. It is a crazy idea and doesn’t add up as a story for me because you are comparing two players who operated in different times and different environments.

Against France there were another 14 All Blacks who were just as threatening with ball in hand but what made Julian stand out is that he had an absolutely outstanding game. Talking about the match immediately after the final whistle, you found yourself mentioning the great game Jerome Kaino had and the one Dan Carter delivered along with Nehe Milner-Skudder. Julian finished his tries really well at the end of some excellent build-up work.

South Africa know they cannot just focus on Julian in the build-up to Saturday’s World Cup semi-final at Twickenham because every All Black performed at the level that is expected, which created space all over the pitch. The All Blacks operated at a very high standard and that has to be reproduced against South Africa when they are going to have to dominate the breakdown again and show the same proficiency in defence.

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It wasn’t just the X-factor stuff that contributed to the win it was the all-round, well-balanced performance that didn’t allow the French to do what they wanted and they failed to adapt.

The Springboks will present different challenges but I expect the All Blacks to win and then face Australia in the final.

I am sure Michael Cheika will have been cracking the whip with the Wallabies after their 35-34 win over Scotland because he will have seen how impressive Argentina have been on their way to the semi-finals, playing a similar game plan to the All Blacks through their dangerous half-backs. However, I am going for the Wallabies to get the victory.

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