Lion King Tana roars
26 Sep 2007
The only thing Brian O’Driscoll and Tana Umaga agreed on was that England and British and Irish Lions lock Danny Grewcrock was a meathead.
Umaga’s biography, Up Close, is due for release and New Zealand’s impressive rugby site, Rugbyheaven.co.nz ran content of the chapter dealing with Umaga and Keven Mealamu ending O’Driscoll’s Lions tour.
We’ve heard O’Driscoll’s rants for years, now here’s Umaga’s version, courtesy of Rugbyheaven.co.nz
I was very enthusiastic going into the first test in Christchurch. I’d been looking forward to it for two years and couldn’t wait to give it everything I had. Not even some of the worst weather Christchurch could throw at us could change that. Everyone knows – or thinks they know – what happened in the first 90 seconds. I went into a ruck and cleaned out Brian O’Driscoll. I was standing over the ball trying to protect it when he bounced back to have another crack at disrupting our possession. We were tussling as he tried to get through and I grabbed his leg to try to unbalance him, a technique I’d used before and still use to this day. What I didn’t realise was that Keven Mealamu was doing the same thing on the other side of the ruck. As I got one of O’Driscoll’s legs up, Keven hoisted his other leg and drove him back. He ended up with both feet off the ground, not in control of himself or the situation, a position rugby players often find themselves in. When we let him go he came down and what happened, happened. I didn’t think anything of it, I just took off.
When the whistle blew and he was being attended to by his medical staff, I was completely focused on the job in hand. The game I’d been preparing for since the 2003 World Cup had just started, the pressure was on, and I was concentrating on what we were going to do next. It didn’t really occur to me to go and check on what was happening in their camp. There was no conscious decision not to go over: I didn’t do it then because I didn’t do it, period; I’d never done it for anybody else. I was a competitive animal out there. The flipside of that was my bedside manner when my players got injured: if I saw someone in my team on the ground, I’d say, ‘What’s wrong with you? Just get up.’ I was always telling cousin Jerry that. When they carted O’Driscoll off I thought Jesus, major, then I put it out of my mind and got on with the game.
I didn’t go and see him after the game but I ran into a group of their players who weren’t going to the after-match function and asked Richard Hill how Brian was. He said he’d gone to hospital. Again, I didn’t think anything of it. When we got back to the hotel after the dinner, Keven and I were told that we’d been cited so we had a meeting with NZRU lawyer Steve Cottrell to run through what had happened. While we were doing that, news came through that the Citing Commissioner had ruled there was no case to answer. We were relieved but not surprised; from the outset our view was that since there’d been no malice or intent, the matter shouldn’t go any further.
The Lions leadership and their high-powered spin doctor Alistair Campbell wouldn’t take ‘no case to answer’ for an answer and found a way to take the matter much further. The sustained personal attack they launched against me was hard to believe and even harder to stomach. You don’t want to take it personally but it’s almost impossible not to when another player, a guy you had some respect for, attacks your character in the most direct and damning terms. My first thought was geez, don’t be a sook; there’s no use crying about it, man, it’s over. On the other hand I could understand how bitterly disappointed O’Driscoll was. He would have been just like me: buzzing with anticipation, really up for it, and desperate to make a point on the field.
There was a lot of talk about the Lions’ response to the haka. Someone had supposedly advised O’Driscoll to kneel down and pick a blade of grass, which he’d done, and we’d supposedly regarded that as disrespectful. The truth was we didn’t care what they did. I noticed him doing it but just thought, oh, that’s different. Opposition teams had tried a variety of responses and our attitude was always the same: whatever. We didn’t understand what he was doing so they were one up on us there, but it’s rubbish to suggest that it had anything to do with what happened at that ruck. The media tends to provide interpretations of what they think has happened, as opposed to what actually did happen, and it’s often all that speculation which creates the angst and inflames the situation.
At first, the kerfuffle didn’t really bother me. It was a case of, oh well that’s the way it is. But it just snowballed and O’Driscoll kept going on about the fact that I hadn’t rung him to say sorry. I’d actually tried to get hold of him on the Monday via the Lions’ media liaison person but I never heard back. By this stage we were in Wellington and it just kept cranking up and I was getting a bit angry. I finally obtained his number and got hold of him but it wasn’t a warm exchange. He was still angry that I hadn’t gone over to see how he was and once he’d got that off his chest, he accused me of being involved in a lot of off-the-ball incidents. The Lions hadn’t been impressed with the way I’d played, he said, and I had to watch it. I said, ‘Don’t talk to me about off-the-ball incidents, talk to your own players.’ (With all the fuss the Lions had made over the O’Driscoll incident, it had almost been overlooked that their lock Danny Grewcock, a player with a history of foul play, had been cited, found guilty, and banned for biting Keven Mealamu.) ‘Look at Grewcock,’ I said. ‘He’s a meathead.’ ‘Yeah, he is a meathead,’ he said. ‘You can’t change that but we’re better than that. We shouldn’t play like those guys. We thought you were a gentleman.’
While he went on along those lines, I was thinking to myself, hang on, this is a game I take seriously. And I did: I aimed to let an opponent know I was out there and get into his mind so that next time he’d have a look to see if I was coming. I’d body-check him on the way through or if I came up quickly and the pass didn’t go to him, I’d still give him a little reminder that I was around so he knew that if he didn’t have his wits about him, he could get hit, and hit hard. I had no qualms about it; that was how I played. That’s the gamesmanship of rugby. Players sledge. I sledged a bit and did so in that game. I was always trying to get an edge and in that respect I was no different to a lot of players.
But when he started talking about off-the-ball stuff and me not being a gentleman I thought, oh, you’re reaching now. I never went out to commit foul play: I didn’t punch guys on the ground or stomp on them. So I said, ‘Oh well, mate, we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I’m sorry for what happened to you but there was no intent in it; it was one of those unfortunate things that happen in rugby.’ He said, ‘Yeah, but you could’ve helped it.’ ‘Okay, mate,’ I said, ‘all the best.’ And that was where we left it.
Instead of trying to get on the front foot straight away, our PR strategy was to let the storm blow itself out. But it didn’t blow itself out and when I eventually held a press conference a few days later it felt like a hollow exercise. By that stage I was all for just taking it on the chin and getting on with it, but our media people wanted to respond to what had become a pretty relentless and inflammatory – as in ‘I could have died’ – campaign. I’d been getting a lot of support from the team all week and at the press conference I was backed up by the leadership group which was great, even though the exercise itself felt like it was all a bit late. Whether it could have been nipped in the bud is a moot point given the intensity of their media blitz but for a couple of days they had the floor to themselves and they made the most of it. Even when I was being bombarded with questions I couldn’t help seeing the funny side of it: poor little me surrounded by all those big, burly forwards as if I couldn’t protect myself. It was good to have my say but I wanted to do my talking on the field.
Clive Woodward had talked his team up, saying they were the best prepared Lions ever and wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the 2001 Lions tour of Australia, which was a crack at Graham Henry who’d coached that team. That kind of thing – attacking our people, talking themselves up – just steeled us. We wanted to show them that they weren’t as good as they thought they were and Woodward wasn’t as good as he thought he was.
They started the second test very well, scoring under the posts virtually from the kick-off. I wasn’t worried because we hadn’t had the ball or played any rugby. My message was let’s get the ball, get down there, and give it a crack. They launched another attack but this time they dropped the ball. I picked it up and gave it to Daniel Carter because I knew he’d do something with it and I was able to run off him and score. It was a team try, pure and simple. I didn’t see it as some sort of personal statement – ‘straight back at you’ – because I never felt like it was me against them.
At times, though, they seemed to think it was them against me. As a ruck broke up, Paul O’Connell loomed over me ranting and raving. As I got up, their props Julian White and Gethin Jenkins started pushing and shoving. I knew it was going to happen at some stage so I just said, ‘Come on, any time, just bring it.’ I backed away slowly looking at them and saying, ‘Are you going to start playing soon or what?’ Later, when O’Connell went down, I went over to him as he was rolling around the ground and said, ‘Mate, don’t give up now, we’re just getting started.’ He jumped straight up. When Stephen Jones came on for Jonny Wilkinson he took the ball up yelling, ‘For our captain!’ like something out of Braveheart. I said, ‘Are you serious?’ You could see how they were trying to motivate themselves but it became quite laughable.
127 Comments
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26 Sep 2007, 14:05 pm
100-
Lol, kidding me? You really think BOD getting injured was a huge factor in that series? Wake up.
26 Sep 2007, 14:14 pm
Tana and Keven Mealamu thought so too. Where were you at the time? On the Grog. LoL!
26 Sep 2007, 14:14 pm
Jock,
Grow a set of balls will you.
The B&I Lions weren’t thrown off by the loss of O’Driscoll in the first few minutes of test 1. That is a spin job worthy of Stephen Jones or the NH scribes!
They were supposedly the best prepared team of all time according to Woodward. As it turned out, they were quite possibly the most ill-prepared, ordinary, pathetic Lions squads ever assembled.
The Lions never stood a chance once Argentina had exposed them before they even set off from Britain.
Too many over-the-hill Englishmen taken, too many rubbish coaches, medieval tactics and too many egos caused the Lions downfall. Compare Woodward’s planning to that of McGeechan in 1997 or Henry in 2001 (both tours took place in professional era) and the Lions of 2005 will quite rightly be remembered as a complete and utter shambles!
26 Sep 2007, 14:15 pm
Is katman around?
26 Sep 2007, 14:28 pm
Cane $87,
Doesn’t excuse it. As you will see from the threads on this site, there is still a lot of hatred for anything from Europe amongst Saffas. The way most were brain-washed by the NP when they were in power I’m afraid Swart Gevaar only just pipped the ‘Europe Gevaar’ on the hit list for the NP. Now of course there’s still the ‘Europe Gevaar’ as pushed by the ANC, especially when it comes to Zim.
26 Sep 2007, 14:30 pm
Big Balls Strodders
- so if BOD was no threat why take him out? It was cowardly and very unlike the NZ character to do such a thing if they knew the side was so poor.
BOD was to the BL what Tana was to the AB’s. Except he never got a chance, he was mugged!
26 Sep 2007, 14:34 pm
So what if there was some degree of dirty play involve.It happens almost in every rugby match played.
In some instances players get hurt in some not.
What makes BOD so special.
26 Sep 2007, 14:43 pm
So Tana said to Kevin:”Here is BOD now, this is our chance let`s take him out.”
I don`t think so.
26 Sep 2007, 14:55 pm
You can go onto the field targeting a specific player with the intention of palying him off the field but the chance you will succeed is very slim.
There is a better chance you getting sent off eventually.
26 Sep 2007, 14:57 pm
Jock,
I don’t think O’Driscoll was targeted. Wrong place, wrong time. That’s all.
It’s funny, we Brits love to talk up the legendary “99″ call that the Lions used in SA in 1974 to show the Boks that they weren’t to be intimidated, yet in this day and age that tactic was an excuse for all out thuggery.
Umaga and Mealamu are labelled as thugs, yet Gareth Edwards and Willie John McBride and the Pride of ’74 are remembered as tough men who wouldn’t take a backwards step to an overtly physical, intimidatory Bok team.
Is it not a wee bit hypocritical of us to condone the actions of our own yet castigate the actions of our opponents?
26 Sep 2007, 15:34 pm
stodders,
Dont know if you ever got to see the behind the scenes of the Lions 99 tour.
My brother has a copy.
Interesting, especially since everything down South is based on playing thugby…
26 Sep 2007, 15:38 pm
And as far as the BOD incident goes…
Serves him right for pickin up a blade of grass!
26 Sep 2007, 15:41 pm
PA,
I have watched it. Jim Telfer is my hero
McGeechan and Telfer knew that the way to beat the Boks was to shape the Lions up to play physical, abrasive rugby, to take the hits, not whinge and keep coming back for more.
It was an awesome series. The Boks played most of the rugby and the Lions intimidated. I dislike Jerry Guscott with a passion, but when i watched that drop goal i remember that for a split second i loved the man!
26 Sep 2007, 16:22 pm
Great video and one for the collection if you are a rugby lover!
26 Sep 2007, 18:11 pm
Absolutely. Best Lions captain in Johnno, best coaches who led with heart and head, small frontrow to scrum low down and get under Os’s skin. Legendary stuff regardless of your nationality! F**k it, I’m going to order it off Amazon!
26 Sep 2007, 18:21 pm
cmon, anyone can see that it was actually Mealamu who lifted BOD off the ground. Tana looks impervious to Mealamu even being there and this contributed heavily. I feel slightly ashamed as a Kiwi that Tana didnt atleast see BOD off but only 2mins in to a Series-opening Test and a long break is not the best time for a Captain to be away from his troops.
I also feel sad because BOD is a star and a player to lift you out of your seat. He is the type of player you want your son to watch. He was mesmerising against The Aussies in the Lions Series of 2001. The NZ tour lost a main drawcard with his withdrawal and his bitterness is completely understandable. Being Lions Captain is the pinnacle of any UK/Ire player and with all his family there you cant help but feel for the guy. Certainly the ABs could have handled it better, how tough can it be ?!
But if anyone was to be hung out to dry it was Mealamu. And Woodward knew that but, of course, there was more to be gained by focussing on the AB Capt. So Woodward and Campbell took that conscious decision and, for that, sympathy wanes considerably.
26 Sep 2007, 18:32 pm
Amen BlackPanther. A balanced view from a Kiwi, obviously you are a rugby fan as well as a Kiwi. Those playing down BODs talents have short memories or actually know nothing about rugby at all.
26 Sep 2007, 18:45 pm
BOD is the best centre of the modern pro age. Superb on his feet. I can only dream about how many tries our wingers would score if he was born a Kiwi. I feel ashamed he was treated that way in my country. We are too rugby-obsessed at times and that was a perfect example of something being bigger than the game.
But once Woodward and Campbell got their grubby hands all over it, the ‘public sympathy vote’ just evaporated. Despite the fact that Tana could have been better advised he was still merely a player, part of a squad. But I cant recall a more egotistical man in rugby than Clive (“the winning England team was 60% players, 40% management”) Woodward and what should otherwise have been an outpouring of sympathy for BOD from the NZ public was soon separated like oil and water. To support BOD was to support Woodward and that, dear readers, was NEVER going to happen down under.
26 Sep 2007, 19:02 pm
BP it wouldn’t happen outside of the poncy Rara’s who live in the South East of Pomland never mind Down Under!
26 Sep 2007, 19:05 pm
Yes, anyone who tries to detract the achievements of that England team away from messrs Johnno, Jonny, Hill and Lozza needs psychiatric monitoring.
26 Sep 2007, 22:23 pm
#77
What a stupid post,how many times have you seen Tana use dirty play?
He is one of my mates,my dad coached him from juniors up to about 15 years old,he use to come around and stay at out house and i still see him once and a while.Not once have i seen him play dirty,the spear tackle on BOD was bad but there were two people doing that.He is not a lier and i believe on what he says.Then again Twig could be BOD and he is still going on about it
26 Sep 2007, 22:32 pm
Thank you BP. Thank God for a balance view from a Kiwi.
Bertie BigBolloxStrodders
i am not one of you. Please don’t make that mistake.
Go Bokke for RWC 07 & the hereafter!
26 Sep 2007, 23:01 pm
#118
Dude i think you should calm down about the praising of BOD,he was/is a good player but he wasnt goping to get us more tries for the wings,thats just laugable.Tana was just as good if not better than BOD,Tana had an all round game,he wasnt scared to get in a ruck and clear out if he was the only there,he would get up of the ground after a tackle and try to claim the ball ,not run back into position.
Someone said it earlier in a post that BOD would be the first to an altercation and join in,i have seen this many a time from him.
27 Sep 2007, 00:23 am
116 blackpanther everything you say is right in a perfect world. I think Tana gave a reasonable account of himself at the time of the injury. He was also captaining a team in a serious match and his headspace had to be and was taken up with what his men needed next from him.
Going to see OD was not going to help him (OD) in anyway. The other side of the coin is would O’Driscoll have done the same for Tana? We’ll never know. Tana was probably of the same ilk as many of the old school- if the kitchens too hot dont go in.
Yes I feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for Larkham and I feel sorry for Piri Weepu, Rico Gear, Mullet man and all the others that are casualities in their own way,the positive being is that at least O’Driscoll knows he was King for a day.
27 Sep 2007, 03:20 am
Sadly Tana has lost his dad. From the NZ Herald :
Tana Umaga should be celebrating the launch of his new autobiography, but instead the former All Black captain is mourning the death of his beloved father who persuaded him to swap soccer for rugby.
Last night the centre known for his crunching tackles told how the last few days had been tough on him and his family, but paid tribute to the impact his father had on shaping his rugby career.
Paegauo “Falefasa” Ropati Umaga, who died on Saturday aged 77, decided his son would make a far better All Black than an All White although the young Umaga’s passion was soccer. “I wanted to play soccer for the school but so did everybody else: they had so many kids they had to pick names out of a hat and I missed out,” Umaga said in his autobiography Tana Umaga Up Close.
“I asked Dad if I could play club soccer and he took me down to the mall to enrol me in rugby. Seven years old and already an ex-soccer player,” he said. When a teenage Umaga showed promise in rugby league his father nearly disowned him, said sister Janice. “But he was sneaky, Dad: ‘If you loved me, you’d give it up.’ He wouldn’t talk to Tana for a while because he played rugby league but every time Tana had a game you’d see Dad’s car somewhere around and you’d know he’d be hidden behind a tree or something.”
In the book, Mr Umaga said his son was “a good boy”.
27 Sep 2007, 05:11 am
BOD in the All Blacks? Give me a break! Most of the time he thinks he is Beckham and the rest he’s Harry Potter. Like Harry he never really got the gist of the “REPARUM” charm. Shame really, he would have been humiliated by a team that could really fly, if he had played.
Dame Clivid, who makes Dame Edna look Butch, proved he was no no Professor Dumbledore but Lord Voldemort, a POSEUR and a LOSER!
Get a life Big Hit, or better still a decent team of young men, rather than old pansies. The Opium Pushing Slave Traders are nothing but wind. Go Tonga, you could even send the Criminals home. Godless mothers!
Captain Sook and the Choirboys will exit this weekend, good riddance, possibly the Village Idiots, and the Not-so-Bravehearts.
So my earlier predictions, of an all SH last four, and only one in the Quarters, are close to reality. Go back and read your comments Big Hit to those predictions.
NZ v RSA the final, as it should be. NZ to win by thirty.
27 Sep 2007, 11:02 am
#123
Hurricane
dont be so precious about Tana. Nowhere did I say ‘BOD was better than Tana’ nor that I would prefer one over the other. I am a huge fan of Tana and part of my disappointment over the BOD debacle is that it unnecessarily tarnished his reputation. He was by no means a dirty player but a hard and fair one. And an excellent one. And to praise a different player that produces your reaction just shows you are too close to Tana so as to lose your objectivity. My opinion on BOD is that he was a fantastic player and given a role in a better team than Ireland – the All Blacks for example – he would have been even better. There is no denying he is one of the best players of the past 10yrs, as was Tana. But they have different strengths and weaknesses.
The problem with Kiwis is that they get a bit precious about their team and regard compliments in other directions as being a slight on their own, as if ‘noone is better than (AB)’. I have travelled the World follwoing the ABs and have only missed 1 RWC and as the RWC losses slowly racked up, Kiwis have got more sensitive to any criticism or perceived-slight. I think it is great that idfferent countries produce players with different skill sets, the Kiwis with their blend of powerful Polynesian/Maori with Europeans and the Brits with their hardnosed direct approach. But as with most things, we have much to learn from each other and my only criticism of Tana was that the BOD situation could have so easily have been dealt with better. I would hate that to be in any way interpreted as supporting any trick Woodward tried to pull at the time because he is a repulsive cretin.
Nice story about Tanas Dad hiding behind the tree.
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