[Rugby Look-A-likes] Does Ma’a Nonu look a bit like Lurtz (fighting Uruk’Hai from Lord of the Rings)

Originally uploaded by _guu_

At first, I thought that that’s who it was that all of the girls were wanting to get their photo taken with when All Black Ma’a Nonu came and sat one row back from me at the Wellington Sevens.

That was until I saw the identifying tattoos on his back and arms and he beckoned me over and introduced himself … Homer Simpson moment there.

He was disguised as an avatar in blue body paint and I’m saying – at first glance anyway – he looked a bit like Lurtz the fighting Uruk’Hai from The Two Towers (second movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy). I thought that the people who recognised the actor were fairly astute to pick him out in a different costume but they had spotted the All Black under the blue paint.

All Black Ma'a Nonu at the Wellington Sevens

I was a little embarrassed on the inside and also wanted to be cool and so didn’t ask for the cheesy photo, autograph or whether he might agree to do an interview for the blog but he seemed like an accommodating friendly guy – which is not how some All Blacks have been portrayed over the years.

When I asked how he was doing, he said: ‘same-old, same-old’ but I assume that that meant training and playing rugby because a body like his is not chiseled from beer drinking and watching footie.

More from the Wellington Sevens over at our other blog, AtTheSevens.com.