Umaga speaks out on O'Driscoll tackle

Tana Umaga in training this week. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Tana Umaga's obligations were to his All Blacks team -- not injured Lions opposite Brian O'Driscoll -- in the opening minutes of last Saturday's first rugby test, the New Zealand captain told a breathless media pack in Wellington today.

Four days after one of the most talked about rugby incidents in recent years, New Zealand captain Umaga told a packed press conference he would seek a one-on-one meeting with O'Driscoll, the man whose tour he ended with a cleanout off the ball in conjunction with hooker Keven Mealamu.


And, early this evening, Umaga exited a central Wellington hotel just before the Lions conducted a media session there.


NZRU officials would not say whether Umaga had been there to speak to O'Driscoll, honouring his desire that any such meeting be private.


Umaga and Mealamu were not cited for the incident, which incensed the Lions, as did Umaga's apparent lack of remorse towards Irish star O'Driscoll in the aftermath of the injury.

Umaga reiterated his post-test comments that O'Driscoll's loss was a sad one for the tourists but it was an "unfortunate" part of rugby.

The incident was not a deliberate act, Umaga said, merely a reflection of how hard he played the game.

And his lack of apparent compassion was because he had his own players to consider during a long break in play.

"At that stage I had to try and keep them together. It was such a lengthy period, we had to sort some things out that worked for us," Umaga said.

"First and foremost my allegiance is to the All Blacks, that's just the way it is."

He had sought a way to contact O'Driscoll through other Lions players after the test and the pair have since traded telephone messages.

Umaga was stunned the issue had dragged on this week, believing it should have ended when he and Mealamu were cleared.

"I felt that was the end with it, other than having a word with Brian himself, person to person. That's how I do things," he said.

"I don't try to do things through the media. We'll try to make contact and when we do, we will."

Umaga said it had been good to spend some time at home with his three children this week and said his wife Rochelle was far from impressed with some of the media she had read and heard.

"My wife, it's lucky she didn't come, she would have told you a few things," Umaga said.

"It has been tough. I must say my family's been gathering around me, asking me how I am. Your family supports you, that's what you expect I suppose.

"As they say -- tough times don't last, tough people do."

Umaga was just as disappointed for his teammates, whose performance in beating the Lions 21-3 at Christchurch had largely been overlooked this week.

He denied a suggestion the unique way the Lions confronted the All Blacks haka had annoyed him.

He said their fanning across the field from touchline to touchline and O'Driscoll's act of picking up blades of grass as the haka finished had "caught us on the hop" but was not offensive.

Umaga did not want to revisit the incident, in which he and Mealamu lifted O'Driscoll's legs in the air before he fell awkwardly.

"It's too late for explanations now. It's Wednesday, we've got two more days to try and prepare for a game.

"I could explain, but everyone's already made their decisions."

The controversy left Umaga initially wondering whether he would come in for closer scrutiny this week and if it might be worthwhile to adjust his technique.

"That is a question that I've asked myself. But I know in myself and the support around here I have within this team that I will do what I have to do," he said.

"As a captain, you have to put up with a lot. Probably not as much as I've had to this week. I can't do anything to change that. I just have to live with it and move on."

Asked whether captaining his team to a series win over the Lions would be one of the special moments of his career, Umaga gave an indication of the pressure he has felt this week.

"It hasn't really come into my mind, there have been these other things going on in there," he said.

- NZPA