It was the great Gareth Edwards who summed it up best.

On the day back in October 2005 when Cardiff Blues confirmed the signing of Jonah Lomu, the former Wales and Lions scrum-half addressed a press conference at the Arms Park.

“This is like bringing Maradona to play for Cardiff City or the Swans,” he declared.

And he wasn’t wrong. That’s just how big a story it was at the time.

Admittedly, Lomu was no longer at his peak as a player, having won the last of his 73 All Blacks caps three years earlier, while he had been battling a serious kidney disorder for some time.

But the man who had burst onto the international scene in unforgettable fashion at the 1995 World Cup was still the biggest name in the sport and a huge draw.

Bidding to return to the game following a kidney transplant, he had signed a two-year contract with New Zealand province North Harbour in April 2005, only to be sidelined for the season with a shoulder injury.

But, come the autumn, he was over the problem and looking for rugby. That’s where the Blues stepped in, reaching an agreement with North Harbour for him to play in Wales during the off season.

On the anniversary of the announcement, here’s the inside story of those remarkable few months.

The Chairman

Peter Thomas was chairman at the Arms Park at the time and has vivid memories of the sequence of events leading up to the headline-grabbing signing.

“I can remember it very clearly,” he said.

“I was actually up at St Andrews for the Dunhill Golf when Bobby Norster, our CEO at the time, rang me.

“He said ‘Lomu is available, what do you think?’

“I said ‘Do it’.

“It so happened I was on the bus a 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’.

“In fairness, Bobby Norster did all the spade work. He did the negotiations. So top marks to him.”

The deal was Lomu would receive £3,000 a week, provided he played, and he was soon more than repaying that outlay.

Arriving in November, he made his debut the following month in a Heineken Cup tie out in Calvisano, his first competitive game of rugby in 28 months.

His presence in the return fixture the next week drew a 12,000 crowd at the Arms Park, some achievement for a game against a team of Italian semi-pros.

“I always remember, an hour before kick-off, seeing a big noticeboard outside the Gwyn Nicholls gates - sold out, ground full,” recalls Thomas.

“And that was for Calvisano!

“That’s how big a name he was. He was known throughout the world.”

Thomas has fond memories of the time he got to spend with the giant Kiwi winger.

“We got him fixed up in a place in Cefn Mably,” he recalls.

“He came up to our house for supper one night and he was a great dancer!

“He was such an iconic figure, but also a lovely, lovely man.

“It was such a privilege to have him at the Arms Park. He was such a wonderful guy.

“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.”

The Coach

The man charged with utilising Lomu’s unique talents on the field was coach Dai Young, who also has a clear recollection of when he first heard the big man was on his way to the club.

“I remember Peter and Bob pulling me in and saying they had been approached about Jonah wanting to come and play in Wales,” he said.

“I think it may have had something to do with Kingsley Jones’ old man, Phil Kingsley Jones, who had been his agent.

“My first reaction was is this just a commercial signing or do we think he has got any rugby in him, because he had obviously been ill for a while.

“The thing I wanted assurances of is it wouldn’t be a case of because he’s such a big name we would have to play him.

“In fairness, they 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.

“In fairness to Peter and Bob, they never interfered with team selection. There was no pressure from them.”

Lomu ended up playing 10 games for the Blues, scoring one try, before his stay was cut short by an ankle injury sustained against the Borders in April 2006.

“When he arrived, he was quite fit weight-wise, as in the gym, but not running condition-wise,” recalls Young.

“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.

“He didn’t talk about the struggles he’d been through, but of course we knew about it.

“We’d all watched it and to see him back playing again was inspiring in itself."

What really sticks out in Young’s mind though is Lomu the person.

“We were all blown away by how nice a bloke he was and how humble he was for somebody who was such a superstar in the game,” he said.

“There were no airs and 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.

“He looked after them as well. A lot of the younger guys were on small contracts and a couple of them had boots which had seen better days, so he asked them what their sizes were and sorted them out with new ones.

“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.”

The Captain

Lomu’s skipper during his stay with the Blues was Welsh international full-back Rhys Williams, who looks back on it as a surreal time in his life.

“I was really fortunate that when I was 17 I toured New Zealand with Wales Schools and we met Jonah Lomu,” he reveals.

“I was probably 12 stone soaking wet. He must have been 20 stone, 6ft 4ins and he looked fearsome.

“I had a picture taken with him out there and I’ve still got it. He had a Redskins jacket on and I was there in my Welsh Schools blazer and tie!”

Fast forward then eight years to 2005.

“When we got told he was coming to Cardiff, it was kind of like ‘Wow’,” said Williams.

“I remember the first day he arrived, it was almost like the same feeling again as 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.

“With Jonah, I was thinking, actually I am captain here, should I be reacting in this way, but you can’t help but be a fan in that initial moment.

“Within a short period of time, though, you then understood really quickly just now much of a nice guy he was.

“He had so much time for everybody in the squad. He would just sit down and chat. He was very, very generous with his time, his stories, especially with younger kids.

“He had a story for every situation. Craig Quinnell was renowned for that and it was a rivalry in the team room over a coffee who had the better story!”

The 44-cap Williams has vivid memories of how fans flocked in their thousands to watch the great man in action for the region.

“When he got the ball or was about to get it, you could feel it as a player, you could feel everything just heighten in the stadium. It was amazing.

“When he first arrived, he was still carrying quite a bit of weight, but he trained really hard.

“I remember at the start of his last game, against the Borders, he made a little shimmy and a break to go 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.

“Then he picked up that injury unfortunately. I think if he’d had a little bit longer, you’d have seen him back to something big.

“With the challenges and trials he had gone through with his illness and to come back into playing rugby, that sums him up. He was up for any challenge and was going to go at it wholeheartedly.”

But, as with everyone else you talk to, it was how Lomu was off the field that has really made a lasting impression.

“When Jonah went back home, he left his massive ghetto blaster beat box for our gym because it was much better than the little hi-fi we had,” recalls Williams.

“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.

“The life he had led was totally different to any other rugby player, in terms of the enormity of who he was, but he was so grounded about it all.”

For Williams, there is one memory in particular that will always stand out.

“I got to know him relatively well over the time he was with us,” he explained.

“One night, I went over to the flat he was renting in Cefn Mably with my girlfriend at the time, Liz, my wife.

“She cringes to this day because I took the picture of when I met Jonah as a 17-year-old over with me.

“I brought it out and Liz was taking the mickey of me, saying I can’t believe you have done that.

“But I said ‘No, I have to talk to him about it!’

“Touring New Zealand and meeting Jonah Lomu was a massive part in my wanting to become a rugby player.

“Now I was playing with him and training with him five days a week.

“I needed to have that one chance to show him the picture and say I met you there and now I am mates with you here.

“It was almost a cleansing for me, a cathartic experience.

“I just wanted to tell him how I had been in awe to meet him that first time and how I was really honoured to be sitting down and sharing sushi with him now!

“It was a surreal position to be in for me as his skipper, but it’s something I will cherish forever.”

From one great to another

It's now 17 years since Lomu joined the Blues and seven years since he so tragically passed away at the age of just 40.

But his legacy lives on and the memories burn brightly.

So, as we come full circle in this remarkable story, the final word goes to Edwards, the greatest player of one era, reflecting on the greatest from another.

“I remember there were people at the time asking ‘What’s the point of signing someone who isn’t at his best or up to it any more?’” recalls the former Blues director.

“But, make no mistake, Jonah was worth every single penny, for his contribution on and off the pitch.

“He drew so many opponents into the tackle, with them literally hanging off his giant frame, and that created so much space and opportunities for team-mates. He also drew so many people into the ground to watch him play.

“But what Joe Public couldn’t see was the enormous impact he had behind closed doors inside the dressing room, not just among the younger players who idolised him, but also the hard-bitten senior professionals.

“Every day in training, the players watched the enormous effort he put in, how he conducted himself, his mannerism and general professionalism.

“As I said at the time, he was the Maradona of rugby in terms of stature. He was the true global superstar of the game.

“But he was also a gentle giant, so polite off the field, prepared to talk to anybody.

“The point I’m trying to make is not only was he a great player, he was a great person too.”