By WYNNE GRAY
A suggestion from Tana Umaga that he might drop out of rugby if he does not succeed at centre is said partly in jest.
But he is unerringly serious about his plans to stick with his new position. He does not want to return to the wing where he has been such a standout for the All Blacks.
Mixed form in the opening stanza of the Super 12 has increased his self-doubts, but there will be no u-turn from the 27-year-old, who was at centre again for the Hurricanes early today against the Cats in Bloemfontein.
"I am not going to give up, I want to play centre. It is only early and I have taken up the challenge," he said.
"Whether I go any further may not be in my hands, but everyone knows I want to be a centre. I want to play there or not at all."
Umaga has the backing of the Hurricanes coaching staff to stay put and while his confidence has been dented after a couple of games, he has been buoyed by support from former All Blacks Frank Bunce and Stu Wilson.
They want their All Black centre to be dynamically creative and consider Umaga fits the bill. They want him to develop there because the country has a surfeit of excellent wings.
He breaks the line consistently and offloads by pushing his hands through the tackle in what has become a rare commodity in the modern game. His defence is robust and aggressive, they say.
The drawbacks are Umaga's recent inexperience of playing centre in a game which has changed markedly in the last few seasons. His strength can also be a flaw, his impetuosity needs more restraint.
The positional switch came because Umaga felt he did not have the pace to play wing and he wanted to return to the position he had when he played rugby league in Wainuiomata.
His wish was timely for Wellington, the Hurricanes and the All Blacks. All three sides had plenty of wings, but the All Blacks had struggled to settle on a centre since Frank Bunce and Alama Ieremia's departure left a significant problem at NPC and Super 12 level.
There was promise from Umaga at centre in the NPC playoffs and hints of his potential during the end-of-year tests in France and Italy. The idea is being pursued in the Super 12 this season.
There has been the encouragement of regular breaks and the despair of missed chances and loose passes. It has been a bit of rock'n' roll rugby with Umaga and the Hurricanes.
"I think I am one of the main culprits because I've been trying to make things happen all the time instead of erring on the side of caution," Umaga said.
" I have been guilty of throwing passes instead of hanging on to the ball, but I am always trying things. That is the way I play my rugby.
"Maybe I have to curb some things, be more patient and work to better percentages and better decisions. Once things do not go our way we get too anxious, we try to do too much by ourselves and go away from the team gameplans.
"We get impatient and lose our composure."
Umaga feels that when he has played on the wing he has had more space to try things, while in the midfield he is much more tightly marked. He probably has to adjust his style from the opportunist rover to a more structured approach at centre.
"I have got to bring more leadership there, communication and direction which are all parts of playing there," he said.
Umaga has had a number of sessions with coach Graham Mourie and assistant Bryan Williams about his play this year. They believe he has to improve his distribution and get a little deeper on attack. "As a wing I used to be very flat to hit the line and break it, but at centre my angles have to change more.
"I also have to be conscious of not running too laterally. I have to stay straight to hold the inside defenders, stop the drift defence and create space for my outsides.
"We have not been doing enough on the inside to put Christian [Cullen] and Jonah [Lomu] away enough."
2001 Super 12 schedule/results
New Zealand's Super 12 squads
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