100 Greatest All Blacks: Tana Umaga

Only last year, Steve Hansen sidled up and asked for a minute. Now tell me, he said, with the tone he might have used in his days on the police force, who told you about Tana retiring, who gave you that info?

Not bad, I acknowledged, before returning serve and asking his theories. He had a pretty good idea, Hansen said, before suggesting one name I was able to emphatically deny as the source of that story.

Umaga's retirement came after a glorious career of 74 tests when he became the first Pacific Islander to captain the All Blacks in tests and played with a distinctively effervescent power which troubled all his rivals.

We conversed regularly in the 2011 World Cup to compile his columns and not once, did Umaga question me about the path of that retirement story six years before. Not that he has mellowed.

He brought fire to his Counties coaching when he berated the referees and there were episodes in his earlier years when his late night emotions could have been better controlled.

Umaga was part of the juggling selection with Christian Cullen, Jeff Wilson and Jonah Lomu which never quite gelled at the 1999 World Cup and then in 2003, hurt his knee and never played again.

He had no issue with that decision. "I wasn't 100 per cent. What I did have an issue with was the fact they had another specialist centre in Ma'a Nonu but they didn't play him."

Umaga got his chance for more input in the next two years when after a night to sleep on the idea, he accepted Graham Henry's offer to captain the All Blacks. The All Blacks lost three tests on his watch, sacked the Lions in spite of the controversy about Umaga's flip tackle which ended Brian O'Driscoll's tour and marched through the UK unbeaten at which stage Umaga called it quits.

BACK TO WYNNE GRAY'S 100 GREATEST ALL BLACKS

Statistics
Date of birth: 27 May 1973
Position: Centre
Matches: 79
Tests: 74
Test debut: 14 June 1997 v Fiji, Albany
Final test: 26 November 2005 v Scotland, Edinburgh
Province: Wellington
Franchise: Hurricanes
Test tries: 36
Test points: 180