Jonah Lomu's school athletics results tell you everything you need to know

For those too young to remember, there are always the YouTube clips and TV tributes which will surely follow in the coming days.

But a journalist in New Zealand called Tim Murphy has shared an astonishing record from Lomu's school days that tells you everything you need to know about Lomu, a man mountain with feet of quicksilver: his school sports days results from 1989.

Lomu went to school at Wesley College in Auckland, and when he was 13 years old it's fair to say he romped it home.

It's an astonishing piece of history that tells you just how good he was, and how young.

Indeed, the only two questions it poses are whether somebody can confirm that Lomu was part of that 4x100m relay team led off by "Simmonds", and how on earth he was beaten in the cricket ball throw.

One wag on social media has an answer for the latter, incidentally:

Murphy also posted a link to a New Zealand Herald article in which Lomu's school sport coach gave his memories of the great man.

""I noticed his talent on day one, he was tall and slim for a Year 9 boy," said former coach and Wesley College deputy head Chris Grinter.

"But whether it was athletics, basketball or rugby, any sport really, he had this incredible natural ability...

"Physically he was a wonderful athlete. It was great to see him progress and turn this immense talent into a sporting ability. It was a thrill to watch him make the most of this."

Grinter's admiration was a two-way street: Lomu paid tribute to his former teacher in Auckland, saying that he was a "father figure" who had put him on the right path following a childhood in Tonga that had threatened to see him go off the rails, stealing cars and getting involved in gangs.