His unflinching honesty had already been demonstrated to Henry when Umaga, not long after becoming All Blacks captain, had asked Henry privately whether the traditional emotional team talks from the coach just before tests were of any benefit to the team.
After a week of feeling depressed by the suggestion, Henry decided Umaga was right. The fire-and-brimstone speeches were quietly phased out.
This week, it was clear that time hasn’t seen Umaga, in his role as Moana Pasifika coach, start to mince his words, when he fired a broadside at the Blues, saying: “They don’t want us here [in Auckland].”
Rennie and Umaga go back to 2000, when Rennie coached him in the championship-winning Wellington team. If he joins the current All Blacks set-up, you could bet on Umaga providing unvarnished honesty to his head coach.
Keep your eyes on the Canes
Round five of Super Rugby Pacific ended with the Hurricanes seeing off the Force 31-23 and topping the table, while the pride of Canberra, the Brumbies, were tipped over 42-27 by a daring Fijian Drua effort in front of 13,000 fans in Ba, all drenched by a tropical rainstorm.
Yesterday’s match between Umaga’s Moana side and the Blues had some weird elements.
A red card for a careless, scarily high tackle by Moana halfback Augustine Pulu was sadly justified.
Oddly, being reduced to 14 men seemed to galvanise Moana. Where it got really bizarre was seeing not one but two Moana tries disallowed in the last 12 minutes.
What had been a fairly lacklustre game might have caught fire at halftime, if the score had been 15-14 to the Blues, rather than 15-7 as it actually was.
Instead, in the last 40 minutes, the Blues stayed clinically efficient, quickly dousing any sparks from Moana, cruising to a 43-7 victory.
Mark down Saturday, April 11, for what should be a massive game in Wellington between the Canes and Blues.
Top of the South
The late, great unbeaten All Blacks coach Fred Allen had a simple yardstick to measure team spirit: “Just look at a side when they need to defend. If every player’s giving his guts, things will work out okay.”
On that basis, the Crusaders, after a mini-media storm blew up following a scuffle at training, are back in the Super race.
Their 29-18 win over the Highlanders in Christchurch featured some terrific attack, but more importantly, some swarming defence in the third quarter that was rock solid.
Discipline is still an issue, and three yellow cards could have lost a closer game. But any coach would prefer to be working on accuracy than trying to engender enthusiasm.
The game was also a perfect demonstration of how vital Will Jordan is to them. Three minutes into the match, he slipped past four tacklers for a try that must have rocked the Highlanders, who wouldn’t have seen themselves as the massive underdogs the TAB did ($3.40 to $1.30 for the Crusaders).
It wasn’t the last time Jordan showed why he’s the form fullback in world rugby, but as a statement of intent, it was massive.
Rookie of the round
Two tries and terrific work at breakdowns announced the arrival of a new loose forward star in Crusaders flanker Johnny Lee.
His pedigree already includes captaining Christ’s College First XV and New Zealand Secondary Schools. On Saturday night’s evidence, more national honours will be on the way.
Good times in the Bay
A good-sized crowd at McLean Park in Napier on Friday night got the game they would have hoped for, when the Hurricanes beat the Western Force 31-23 in an absorbing clash.
Both teams limited the aimless kicking that has blighted some Super matches and the Canes provided a robust reminder that they’re a threat to any side in 2026.
The usual suspects stood up, from Ruben Love making an excellent return, to Cam Roigard shining at halfback.
Just as valuable was the potent scrum, the fierce running of loose forward Devon Flanders and the commitment of veteran forward Brad Shields.
Best sight of the night? The terrific chargedown and 20m sprint to the line for a 68th-minute try by Canes lock, the towering captain of Japan, Warner Dearns.
Worrying sight of the night? All Blacks prop Tyrel Lomax limping off just before the final whistle. There’s nothing flashy about Lomax but any scrum he anchors is rock solid.
Golden Oldie of the round
Wallaby Kurtley Beale is 37, but in Napier, he played for the Force with the verve of a newcomer. He was a constant threat with the ball and his work rate was impressive.
His career has been extraordinary, starting from when he was training with the Waratahs as a 15-year-old schoolboy prodigy. More than two decades later, his golden days don’t look over yet.
Cheering in the rain
The Fijian Drua played as if rain wasn’t pelting down in their 42-27 win over the table-topping Brumbies in Ba. We’re unlikely to see a more spectacular try, given the conditions, than the 52nd-minute touchdown by an airborne Ilaisa Droasese for the Drua.
With the ball fully into slippery-cake-of-soap mode, Drua first-five Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula opted for a crossfield kick.
Joji Nasova caught the ball as if it was bone dry and flicked it back to Droasese for the try.
It was another reminder that if you want to see an upset, don’t miss a Drua home game.
The last hero of ’56 has gone
Nev MacEwan, the last survivor of the All Blacks who riveted the country in 1956 by beating South Africa in a test series for the first time, has died at the age of 91.
A powerful lock and No 8, life for MacEwan was tough when his rugby career finished.
In a 2019 book, he spoke of how he battled with alcohol problems, and even attempted suicide. Thankfully, with the help of his family and church, he changed his life.
Meeting him in the final decades of his life, a lasting memory is of a kindly giant, with a keen sense of humour.
