Umaga handbag bids pass $5000

Bids for the handbag and cellphone that Tana Umaga used to reduce his Hurricanes teammate Chris Masoe to tears passed $5000 on Trade Me this afternoon.

Umaga swung the handbag - with cellphone inside it - to hit Masoe twice in the head in an early-morning incident at a Christchurch bar after the Super 14 final last weekend.

At 8.55am this morning bidding on the auction site for the items reached $1500 - exceeding the reserve price for the first time. The auction quickly moved on to $3000 before stalling for some time until bidders upped the price to $4000 and then $5000.

This afternoon it jumped suddenly from $5800 to $20,000, but that bid was quickly removed.

The seller had already warned anyone putting in a false bid that they could be taken to the small claims court.

Bidders posted questions asking if there was any blood or any "Tana DNA". The seller said there was no blood, but there might be some of the former All Black captain's fingerprints.

Others warned some of the bids could be fake.

The handbag's owner, who did not want to be named, said it was not her idea to put the items on Trade Me.

"I hadn't thought about it myself, but got offered cash for it yesterday [Wednesday] by someone who wanted to put it on Trade Me, and my workmates said, 'Why don't you do that yourself?' "

The items are being auctioned by a friend on her behalf.

She did not want to say how much the handbag was worth or what the reserve price was set at.

"We'll see what the bidders decide by Saturday, when the auction finishes. The cellphone's no good to anyone any more. It's more a novelty thing, I suppose.

"I can't believe people would actually pay money for it."

She said her handbag looked nice but she wouldn't be too upset to lose it for a few hundred dollars.

"Besides, I have a matching wallet."

Umaga hit Masoe with the handbag to settle down his teammate, who had punched a man at the Jolly Poacher.

Umaga's blows were hard enough to break the cellphone and reduce Masoe to tears.

Both men appeared before New Zealand Rugby Union officials in Wellington this week. Masoe was fined $3000 for his behaviour.

The NZRFU agreed that Umaga was defusing the situation and ruled he had no case to answer.

A repentant Masoe, who faced a suspension of up to a month or even the sack, said his behaviour was "totally inappropriate".

The man Masoe punched said he would have been happy for Masoe simply to replace his spilled beer.

Umaga and Hurricanes management have apologised to the woman and replaced her cellphone.

- DEREK CHENG and HERALD ONLINE STAFF