Rugby: Third parties help sign Umaga

There was no shady deal, no briefcases full of euros, no covert meetings at dodgy train stations in the south of France.

Tana Umaga to Counties Manukau, one of the more curious sporting marriages in recent times, was a case of Counties looking for the wrong people in the right place at the right time.

"We were looking around Europe for forwards to bolster our squad when Tana's agent asked us if we would be interested in signing him," Counties Manukau chief executive Phil McConnell said.

"In that case we were Johnny on the spot. When the option arose we said we would obviously have to have a look at it."

If there was an agent provocateur in the whole deal, it was Duncan Sandlant, Tana's agent at Point Sports Management. He was fingered by the Australian papers as one of the arch-villains in the Sonny Bill Williams defection from the Bulldogs to Toulon, Umaga's French club, in 2008.

While that affair highlighted the more malignant aspects of professional sport, the Umaga deal could be a pointer to a better way forward for unions that are not cash rich.

The financial plight of Counties over recent years has been well documented. To get Umaga's signature the union was going to have to get creative and the player and his management were going to have to buy into it.

"Financially we'd been under pressure so it was obvious people would ask how we could make it work," McConnell said. "We had to look at different ways we could put the deal together."

Counties went to "third parties" to put the money up, but McConnell said he was restrained by confidentiality agreements and could not disclose who they were.

That cone of confidentiality extends to the burning question of how much Umaga is getting, but the Herald understands that the third-party contributions alone extend beyond $200,000.

"I can say we have not put Counties Manukau Rugby at a huge financial risk," he said. McConnell also said he believed other unions were already moving in the direction of third-party deals.

One third-party that can be mentioned is Counties Manukau Sport, a community sports and physical activity organisation that operates as a charitable trust.

CMS chief executive Russell Preston laughs at the notion he was the king-pin behind the deal.

"It would be flattering for the ego to say I'm the deal-maker, but it's not true," Preston said.

The organisation did play its part however, especially last year when they were fighting for their future in the national provincial championship.

"We got together with the union to do some planning and risk analysis," Preston said. "We worked out what they needed to do to stay in the [NPC]. The bottom line was to take care of the things that are under their control, which is finances."

Then the union signed Umaga, which opened up opportunities at a community level. The partnership between the union and CMS is still at the conceptual stage, but Preston can see opportunities to offset some of the cost of luring Umaga by using him in funded community programmes through the councils, the district health board and schools.

"His agent said he was very enthusiastic about the prospect of working in the wider community," Preston said. "We have 80,000 Pacific Islanders in Counties Manukau. Tana could be an asset in reaching out to that community."

While McConnell's hopes for Umaga are more immediate and self-serving - his primary job is to help improve the Counties product on the pitch - he knows that Umaga's value will be spread.

"He's got a role to play that's bigger than lacing up the boots."