Jonah Lomu back on the field

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Former All Black Jonah Lomu in his comeback match for for Marseille-Vitrolles against Montmelian in Vitrolles.

COMEBACK: Former All Black Jonah Lomu in his comeback match for for Marseille-Vitrolles against Montmelian in Vitrolles.

COMEBACK: Former All Black Jonah Lomu in his comeback match for for Marseille-Vitrolles against Montmelian in Vitrolles.

COMEBACK: Former All Black Jonah Lomu in his comeback match for for Marseille-Vitrolles against Montmelian in Vitrolles.

FAN CLUB: Former All Black Jonah Lomu poses with some young supporters ahead of his rugby comeback with French club Marseille-Vitrolles.

COMEBACK Former All Black Jonah Lomu in his comeback match for for Marseille-Vitrolles against Montmelian in Vitrolles.

WAITING GAME: Former All Black Jonah Lomu watches a game for his new rugby club Marseille-Vitrolles as he prepares for his comeback.

BALL WORK: Former All Black Jonah Lomu works on some ball drills during practice ahead of his rugby comeback for Marseille-Vitrolles.

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All Blacks legend Jonah Lomu strode off the field today after his first rugby match in three years and pronounced "it's all good".

And his new Marseille club coach, Alain Hyardet, declared it a banner day for rugby just to have the great Jonah Lomu back on the field again.

The 34-year-old, 63-test one-time most destructive rugby player on the planet was making his first appearance for French third division club Marseille-Vitrolles after signing a two-year deal which he says will be his last in the sport.

It was a successful, if slightly uneventful, return to action for the blockbusting winger too, with the Marseille club running out nine-try 63-18 winners over Montmelian as they thrilled a capacity crowd of around 2400 and more than 80 representatives of the media who also made it along.

Lomu played at centre and was largely used as a decoy figure by the Marseille club.

"That was the plan," said Lomu after the game, pronouncing himself more than happy with his first competitive match since his ill-fated comeback attempt in 2006 with Cardiff and North Harbour. 

"I'm rather satisfied," added Lomu. "I need to feel more confident and be able to communicate with my team-mates better but this was a first match and I wasn't expecting miracles. I did my best."

It was 20 minutes before Lomu touched the ball for the first time and near the game's end when he finally received some possession from set phase that he was able to run on to with a head of steam. It took five Montmelian defenders to bring him to the ground on that occasion.

And though Lomu remained a peripheral, rather than pivotal, figure for much of a game dominated by his side, later the club president and coach both said they rated it the team's best performance of the season, and that Lomu's presence had seen all his team-mates lift their standards markedly.

Lomu told reporters after the game he was still struggling a little with the language barrier, but hoped to overcome that as he becomes more familiar with his new home's mother tongue.

And despite feeling like a bit of a "headless chicken" at times, Lomu said he was just ecstatic with how his comeback appearance had gone.

But the last word should go to Hyardet who said Lomu was still getting up to speed with his new team-mates and that nobody should have expected anything too spectacular from the star of the 1995 and '99 World Cups.

"The most satisfying thing was just to see Jonah Lomu back on the park and enjoying himself," the Marseille-Vitrolles coach told French reporters.

Hear, hear to that.

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