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Tana Umaga, the beating heart of the Hurricanes, was cast adrift last night on a magnificent sea of yellow.
He'll come back to the capital's shores in a couple of months to do the farewell thing again and finally moor his career.
But there was no way anyone
was ever going to keep the cork on the emotion until October and allow Umaga - after 12 years and 122 games for the Hurricanes - to exit quietly from a competition whose finest moments more often than not feature a flash of dreadlocks.
The people of Wellington knew that while Super Rugby was losing the last of its originals, they were losing so much more - Tana Umaga was the Hurricanes.
They simply had to make a fuss. A big one. The former All Black skipper has given more than tries. He's given more than sweat, more than blood. Umaga has given the Hurricanes his soul and that investment has paid untold dividends.
He wanted to call it quits when he retired from test football at the end of 2005. Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper persuaded him to stay on, as he did again at the start of this year when again Umaga felt it was time to let the next generation survive without him.
Thankfully for the Hurricanes, Cooper had the key to unpick the lock. Just having Umaga at training is enough to ensure that the young bucks keep the dial at the top of the green all the way to the shower block.
That so many of them wanted to be there in the first place had much to do with Umaga. Neemia Tialata, Tamati Ellison, Piri Weepu and Serge Lilo - who will now become the rocks around which the Hurricanes try to build a dynasty list Umaga as their inspiration.
No young Hurricane wants to earn a scowl from the great man whose work ethic, discipline and commitment haven't faltered for more than a decade.
Best way to avoid incurring his wrath is to be like him. Take it all seriously, throw the kitchen sink at it and enjoy.
That's been the Umaga way. Not always mind, but his renaissance from lazy teenager with half an eye for the dark side to the epitome of the modern professional merely adds to the potency and charm of the Umaga mix.
His longevity is testament to his professionalism. His 122 Super caps a testament to his loyalty.
Throughout his career there have been poachers lurking. In the early days of his career they wanted him for his finishing power.
By the turn of the millennium they wanted him as provider.
But no matter the money Umaga always said no. Even in 2004 when he was offered an outrageous contract to play in France while he was still hurting from the disastrous World Cup campaign a few months earlier, he said no.
And that's all he said. He never spoke about All Black coach John Mitchell's decision to not pick him for the quarter-finals even though he had been declared fit.
It was a decision that probably cost Mitchell his job and probably cost New Zealand another four years of painful waiting.
With Umaga in the All Black No 13 jersey, it is doubtful that Australia's Stirling Mortlock would have been granted the freedom of Sydney's Telstra Stadium in the 2003 World Cup semifinal. Umaga, the destroyer, had no peer as a defensive centre and while the full range of his qualities may not have been appreciated by Mitchell, Graham Henry didn't need any convincing when he took the job in the wake of the World Cup fallout.
It took Henry and his assistants Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith all of two minutes to unanimously agree that Umaga was the right man to make captain.
He ticked all the boxes - certain of selection, respected internally and globally and a genuine leader of men.
Umaga accepted, signed for another three years and New Zealand didn't just get the best of him, they got all of him bar a two-month sabbatical to France.
But even that was typical Umaga - to strike a deal that allowed him to honour his commitment to the Hurricanes.
It was that integrity that saw him treated as royalty in France and is the reason why it's easier for him to sneak into the movies in his home town after the lights have been dimmed.
The lights might now be dimming on Umaga's career but the legend will burn on brightly for many years to come.
