Tri-Nations a career highlight for Umaga

Tana Umaga holds the Bledisloe Cup aloft. Picture / Kenny Roger

The intense nature of this year's Tri-Nations made winning it among the most satisfying achievements of All Blacks captain Tana Umaga's rugby career.

Split results against the physical Springboks and two roller-coaster wins over the Wallabies -- including Saturday night's 34-24 result at Eden Park here on Saturday night -- were enough to hand New Zealand their sixth Tri-Nations crown in 10 years.

"South Africa were very competitive this year and even though Australia had their injury problems they were still very competitive," Umaga said.

"After I've had a bit of sleep I'll be able to reflect back on what this campaign has really meant to me.

"It'll be up there, if not the best thing I've done in the black jersey."

Umaga and his teammates enjoyed some battered fish in the changing room after the test, a rare chance to breach their strict diet as they posed with the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup silverware.

Among the happiest was winger Doug Howlett, whose first test hat-trick lifted him to third on the all-time All Blacks tryscoring charts, his 39 behind only behind Christian Cullen (46) and Jeff Wilson (44).

Howlett's first two tries helped New Zealand build an early 20-0 lead -- raising 50 unanswered points against the Wallabies since conceding the early advantage at Sydney last month.

However, they needed his late third to secure victory after a surging Australia brought the scoreline back to 19-20 early in the second spell.

"There were a few alarm bells going off there, it was pretty tight," Howlett said.

He and his teammates struggled to explain why they had experienced flat patches in all their Tri-Nations tests. They made slow starts to trail 0-13 in both away tests while the middle of their two home tests had been riddled with error and apparent complacency.

"We need to stamp it out. We'll try to identify it in our debriefs but it's hard to pinpoint at the moment," Howlett said.

"We haven't managed 80 (minutes) but it'll come."

It was all part of a learning process, the 48-test test veteran said.

"The ultimate goal obviously is the 2007 World Cup, everything's geared towards that," Howlett said.

"We're getting a huge group of players now... (Saturday night) was another step on that long ladder."

All Blacks coach Graham Henry was the least surprised of anyone when the Wallabies launched their rearguard.

"They've got quality athletes and they played particularly well. They had nothing to lose of course, which added to their freedom and the way they played the game."

Umaga's opposite George Gregan, who responded to mounting pressure in Australia over his form with a slick 114th test, said the All Blacks were maturing into a very difficult team to beat.

"The big standout with the 2005 team is they're able to close out games under pressure. They held their composure and their nerve and turned what was a tight test match in their favour.," Gregan said.

"I think that's a hallmark of this team this year. They've got great experience and they're led well by Tana."

All Blacks vice-captain Richie McCaw returned the praise, believing it was the class of the Australian players rather than poor New Zealand defence which saw the momentum of the test turn. However, they eventually paid for capitulating before a dominant All Blacks scrum and lineout in the opening half-hour.

"Even we'd be struggling if we had 17 players injured. To come out and do what they did shows they're not too bad," McCaw said.

"It's nice to know that if we do put it together, we're going pretty good. If we can put together 80 minutes like that first 20, teams will struggle to compete."

- NZPA