TOYOTA CITY, 9 Oct - It regularly features in the top five World Cup moments. Rugby World Cup 1995. A young Mike Catt, playing full-back for England, trampled by New Zealand winger Jonah Lomu as he crosses for one of his four tries in the semi-final.

Catt, now Italy backs coach, could be forgiven if the Azzurri’s final pool match with the All Blacks on Saturday stirs painful memories of his own most infamous appearance against them.

Understandable perhaps if Catt never wants to see the clip again. But he looks back fondly on an instant and a player that helped embed rugby union in the collective consciousness.

"I love it," Catt said, a World Cup winner in 2003. "The whole competition was brilliant. It was my first World Cup. We'd beaten Australia the week before, won with a drop goal by Rob Andrew.

"I'd played in most of the games, but then along came the big man and he ran over (Scotland full-back) Gavin Hastings, and then ran over me.

"I did everything right, other than Will Carling tap-tackling him and making him stumble towards me. The three times after that he just ran around me." 

That year, New Zealand lost to South Africa in an unforgettable final in Johannesburg, the closest Lomu came to a winner's medal. He reached the semi-finals in 1999 before health problems began to catch up with him ahead of the 2003 tournament in Australia.

"He is one of the guys you wanted to win a medal because he changed the face of rugby overnight," Catt said.

"I next saw him in 1997 at Manchester United and they put him right opposite me from a scrum. Luckily, he didn't have a run-up, so I bubble gum-tackled him."

Japan 2019 is Catt's sixth World Cup. He played in four, and was part of the England coaching team in 2015.

It is his first tournament away from the England set-up and if Italy do not win with a bonus point - and deny New Zealand any points - and fail to reach the quarter-finals, then the match will be his final involvement with the Azzurri before he takes up a similar post with Ireland.

"It has been very different. I love World Cups. They are a bit of a drug.

"For me, it has been really interesting in getting myself out of my comfort zone and looking at rugby in a different way. For me, it will be very beneficial to have worked with some of these guys."

RNS ji/lm/co/sw