Rugby: Trust Tana to tap talent

Tana Umaga has been a good judge of emerging talent at Counties Manukau and proved he can develop young players. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand under-20s, Blues, Tana Umaga and All Blacks, in a curious way, are all inter-connected.

They can all benefit from one another — all become stronger if they pull in the same direction.

The key to the Blues' future is youth. It's the best asset they have. The Chiefs don't have a tap like the Blues — that is permanently on.

The Hurricanes can't match the Blues, either, when it comes to player production. Alone the Blues stand as the one franchise in New Zealand that can feel confident about their ability to contract 37 players entirely from within their own region.

The system keeps churning them out. The Auckland 1A First XV competition is relentless and, in any given year, there will be a handful of schoolboys who emerge as genuine next-level players.

In recent seasons, the Blues have fixed some of their shortcomings in the area of talent retention and development. The three provincial unions are working cohesively, openly and actively with the Blues in regard to talent identification.

They didn't use to. It used to be that the unions did their thing, the Blues theirs and the bulk of the best players fell between the giant crack.

Not so much now. There is transparency and cohesion in the planning — everyone is working towards developing players for Super Rugby, with ITM Cup being a box to tick along the way.

Mostly, when good young players have been lost to the region in the last couple of seasons, it's been because they have received a ridiculously good offer elsewhere rather than the system failing to identify them or the need to keep them.

It was also a major failing of John Kirwan's reign that he would often reject the players that were developed by the provincial unions — Malakai Fekitoa being the most painful example of that.

Enter Umaga — the perfect man, should he be installed as coach of the Blues, to tidy the tail end of the pathway as it were.

The unions are doing a good enough job at developing players up to ITM Cup level. The key part of Umaga's role will be making sure he picks the right ones to advance to Super Rugby and then nurture them to the peak of their potential.

There have been too many players recently who have been contracted to Auckland or North Harbour, but playing their Super Rugby for the Highlanders or Chiefs. Auckland does the hard work of building them and another franchise reaps the reward.

That's the rot that has to stop and it starts with the Auckland players in Italy with the under-20s, who he was assistant coach for until escorting Jerry Collins' body home.

It's a squad that could, and should, become the heart of the Blues in the next few years. Akira Ioane, Blake Gibson, Mitchell Karpik, Mitchell Hunt, Liam Polwart, Isileli Tu'ungafasi, TJ Faiane, Tevita Li and Vince Aso have the potential to turn the Blues around. But only if they are well looked after and given the chance to develop.

This is where the skills and knowledge of Umaga are vital. He's shown himself to not only be a good judge of talent with Counties Manukau, but also a good developer of it. He's able to make good connections with players, inspire them, mould them and keep them on target to continue bettering themselves.

For all that he poured his soul into the Blues, Sir John Kirwan didn't manage to drive the likes of Steven Luatua, Francis Saili and Frank Halai to the next stage.

All of them started with a hiss and a roar but didn't keep advancing.

If everything goes to plan, the under-20s will win the Junior World Championship this morning, the Blues will pick the best out of them and thrive and, in a few years under Umaga's leadership, will be pumping world-class players into the All Blacks.