Ooh, aah it's Captain Umaga

By DAVID LEGGAT

Tana Umaga carved himself a place in New Zealand rugby history yesterday when he became No 59 in the elite group of players chosen to captain the All Blacks in a test.

The Wellington centre, who turns 31 on Thursday, yesterday became the first New Zealand-born Pacific Islander to be named All Black test captain. And he is the first skipper with dreadlocks.

Umaga's debut in charge will come in the first test against England, at Carisbrook on June 12.

He was yesterday named captain of the Probables team for next Tuesday's All Black trial against the Possibles at Eden Park.

Umaga will be the 25th back to lead the All Blacks in a test, but more significantly just the eighth in the last 50 years.

Six of the others were halfbacks, the exception being Stu Wilson, who led the All Blacks against Scotland and England in 1983 from the wing.

Umaga was born in Lower Hutt in 1973, is married to Rochelle and has two children, Cade, 11, and Gabrielle, 4.

Rochelle was one of just two people Umaga told when advised by coach Graham Henry about eight weeks ago that he was wanted as captain. The other was his older brother, Mike.

It was Mike Umaga who persuaded his kid brother to switch from league, at which he was a junior Kiwi, to rugby in 1993.

Tana Umaga was a New Zealand Colt and made his test debut on the wing against Fiji in 1997.

He played against his brother when the All Blacks beat Manu Samoa 71-13 at Albany in 1999.

"I couldn't really keep a secret from him," Umaga said yesterday. "We both yelled on the phone for a while - it was all big brother stuff."

He switched from wing to centre in 2000 and his hard-running, tough-tackling style has made him among the world's best No 13s.

Umaga is the sixth-highest test try-scorer - 27 in 53 matches - behind Christian Cullen, Jeff Wilson, Jonah Lomu, John Kirwan and Doug Howlett.

But his career has not been without controversy. Umaga was filmed wandering drunkenly through central Christchurch in the early hours of the morning after a test win over South Africa in July 2000.

His stature within the team has grown significantly in the last few seasons. His wise head and rugby ability were sorely missed at last year's World Cup when he injured a knee in the opening win over Italy and was controversially not recalled for the semifinal the All Blacks lost to Australia.

This month, Umaga was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin Trophy - named after the founder of the modern Olympic movement - for outstanding sportsmanship in stopping an attacking move to help Welsh forward Colin Charvis, who was in danger of swallowing his tongue after a tackle in Hamilton last year.

The Probables team - effectively the shadow test team - includes two uncapped players, No 8 Mose Tuiali'i from the Crusaders and loosehead prop Deacon Manu.

The man Umaga replaces as captain, Reuben Thorne, is bracketed with Jerry Collins at blindside flanker in the Probables.

Leading from the back

Backs who have captained the All Blacks in the last 50 years:

Pat Vincent (1956)

Ponty Reid (1957)

Chris Laidlaw (1968)

Dave Loveridge (1980)

Stu Wilson (1983)

David Kirk (1986-87)

Justin Marshall (1997)