By WYNNE GRAY
For the next few days, Tana Umaga will feel as bad as he did after his infamous lurch home from the Christchurch test.
"That will last for the next couple of days," he said about the disappointment of the All Blacks' last-minute loss to the Wallabies.
"But hopefully that will steel us to never get this feeling again."
While Umaga's lament a fortnight ago was self-inflicted, the rumbustious wing did everything on his home turf to avoid a repeat. He was potent all day, determined to rectify his reputation. He did all that until John Eales spiked what might have been a bumper Bledisloe Cup-Tri-Nations party.
Umaga was annoyed at himself after the incident in Christchurch and angered at the focus he had taken away from the All Blacks. In the lead-in to Saturday he was very determined to repay his supporters.
"For the first three or four days last week I did not leave the house or watch TV or any of that," he revealed. "The amount of support, letters, people sending me knitted gear for my daughter, e-mails and things like that coming through - it was amazing.
"It brought me back and I really wanted to play for all of them, the people who really supported me and to show it did not necessarily hurt me that much."
What effect did the publicity have on him?
"It was something the team did not really need and myself as well, and that was where my first thoughts were.
"I thought I had let the team down, so I thought I would show it for the boys that I wanted to repay them."
Umaga was one of those who kick-started the All Blacks' revival with busting runs in close, and then there was his part in the triple-scissors to give Christian Cullen his second try and a share of Jeff Wilson's 39-try All Black test record.
"We practised the move just this week. We have got a similar move but we just reversed it because we thought the Wallabies might have looked at the old one on video. It is great when you practise one and it comes off. Smithy and Mehrts planned it, they are the brains," Umaga said.
The 27-year-old believed the All Blacks had stayed in this test far longer than they did at Sydney, but did not make enough capital of their line-breaks.
"We played better and when the dust settles we can say we played bloody well, but just a few little things let us down."
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