On arrival at the stadium for a service to celebrate the life of Jonah Lomu, the public were handed black paper flags with a silver fern on one side and the number 11 on the other. Lomu’s two young sons, Brayley and Dhyreille, wore on their backs the 11 that their father made his own as an All Black winger, as did many of the pallbearers. The stage in the centre of the ground was draped on each side in a giant purple 11, the Tongan colour of mourning. Even the rugby posts, specially reinstalled on a warm, overcast summer day, poked 11s into the sky.