Umaga to play in aid match

All Black captain Tana Umaga has made himself available for the Southern Hemisphere team to play in the IRB tsunami charity match in London on March 5.

Umaga, who returned to training with his Hurricanes Super 12 team this week, said he was happy to help.

"The tsunami has affected millions of people and I'm happy to help in any way I can to make a difference to those who need our help, and will need our help in the months to come."

A statement from the New Zealand Rugby Union said it and the Hurricanes supported Umaga's availability and applauded his offer to join the Southern Hemisphere team, for which Wallabies captain George Gregan and his South African counterpart, John Smit, have already declared their availability.

NZRFU deputy chief executive Steve Tew said the union had been working with All Black coach Graham Henry and the Super 12 franchises to identify players who could participate in the match at Twickenham, which clashes with the Super 12 competition.

"We wanted to ensure that the process of making players available was done in a consultative way so that we ensured it was fair and reasonable, and that we had the full support of the franchises, our national team coaches and, most importantly, the players."

Tew said the NZRFU was continuing to work through the availability of players from the other franchises and announcements would follow once these had been confirmed.

Hurricanes chief executive Malcolm Holmes said the Hurricanes fully supported Umaga and the NZRFU in this decision.

"As we have said, this is a unique situation."

It is expected that Umaga will travel to England while his Hurricanes team-mates are in South Africa for their Super 12 matches against the Cats on March 5 and the Sharks on March 11.

- NZPA