All Blacks arrive home without captain

About ten All Blacks arrived back in New Zealand this morning following their triumphant Grand Slam tour of Britain and Ireland.

Tana Umaga was not among them, having decided to holiday in London and NewYork with his wife Rochelle for a fortnight.

The 32-year-old captain played his last game as an All Black on Sunday when the New Zealanders beat Scotland 29-10 in Edinburgh following earlier wins over Wales, Ireland and England.

Neither assistant coach Wayne Smith nor selector Sir Brian Lochore would comment today on Umaga's future. Lochore said it was up to Umaga to say what his plans were.

The All Blacks returned home after completing a hugely successful year in which they won the Lions series, the Tri-Nations, the Bledisloe Cup and the Grand Slam.

The selectors named 35 players for the four-match tour of Britain and Ireland as they look to build depth in each position ahead of the 2007 World Cup.

Lochore said the high team spirit within the tour party was partly due to management's philosophy of developing two world-class players for each position and a rotating selection policy.

"The number one ingredient is that they have really worked hard together," Lochore said.

"They have worked for one another. Locks have helped locks, props have helped props and halfbacks have help halfbacks which is something that has not always been prevalent in All Blacks rugby.

"There has always been that little bit of jealousy between one another and that is the absolute thing to happen but on this tour because they all knew they were all getting a reasonable amount of the games they all helped one another and that was a real plus and it was obvious on the field as well."

Lochore said the decision to take a lot of young players on tour was another great attribute of the team.

"They all really performed. They all came up to expectations and you can't always say that. I have been away with other teams where some players have handled All Blacks rugby and others haven't."

He said one of the highlights of the tour was the way the team worked together and had fun together.

"Rugby is hard work and we need times when you can be together and have fun," Lochore said.

"We went out like all normal human beings a couple of nights during the week to dinner where we had a wine and had a beer just like you would at home.

"We sat around the table and joked and laughed and those things are really special."

- NZPA, Herald Staff