These Blacks are so special

14 April 2012

The latest defenders of an All Blacks aura which has become increasingly - some would say fatally - dented are in town and the faintest of heard-it-all-before smiles lines the warrior face of Tana Umaga when the plaudits being lavished on the sleek new class of 2004 are recounted to him.

The French bade adieu to their merciless conquerors last weekend by suggesting that Umaga's boys were the best team they've seen for eons. Even captain Fabien Pelous went unusually ga-ga, reckoning it had all felt rather like being devoured by "extra-terrestrials".

Which was all just like water off a duck's back to Umaga, who, as his country's most distinguished rugby servant of recent years, has known as much anti-climax as glory in eight seasons in the hallowed jersey. You won't even get the 31-year-old to admit after the autumn internationals that his team really merits its world No1 ranking. He's been bitten too often for that.

"Aw, I'm an old 'un," he protested at the Pennyhill Park hotel, where the All Blacks were limbering up for Saturday's end-of-tour fun and games with the Barbarians at Twickenham. "You won't get predictions about how good this team might be from me. At the moment, the gap's disappeared between all the top sides so, mate, we'll just do what we have to do - and that's keep working hard."

Yet even the natural caution of a man who's been part of two World Cup squads who promised so much and ultimately delivered nothing to a nation which demanded everything can't quite hide his enthusiasm for coach Graham Henry's thrilling new creation. Pressed, he conceded: "Well, I think this one is a special group, with some tremendous characters and fantastic talent and I do think we have the potential to be a great side. Yet it will be tough to win the next World Cup because in the years I've been playing, the difficulty has been backing up a great performance match after match."

When you listen to Umaga, you sense he has a more realistic view of his side's place in the modern game than many of his compatriots. "I'm sure the aura has diminished and that, with the advent of modern professional rugby, we've lost the edge we once had," he admitted.

Looking around the same headquarters where Sir Clive Woodward plotted England's World Cup triumph, it reminded him that "we haven't got anything on the same scale back home and can't really compete financially with the likes of nations like France and England."

He was being a little disingenuous. With adidas's millions and a ruthless plundering of the finest raw talent in the Pacific islands, this small country still does very nicely thank you. On this tour, Daniel Carter has looked the world's best standoff, liberating the potential of Umaga, Doug Howlett and Joe Rokocoko, which we already knew was fairly sensational.

Yet the greatest advances may have come up front with dynamism and blistering physicality returning to an area of the game in which the All Blacks were supposed to have gone soft, thus betraying a great tradition. Indeed, the murderous loose trio of Richie McCaw, Rodney So'oialo and Jerry Collins quite obliterated France's famed triumvirate in Paris.

For this, Umaga believes British rugby has played its part. He reckoned that Henry, along with his assistants, fellow former Welsh coach Steve Hansen and ex-Northampton coach Wayne Smith, had brought home with them some of the lessons about the physicality of the modern game in Europe. Saturday will be our last chance in England to see what may await Woodward's Lions next summer. In truth, though, their largely second XV - Umaga's on the bench - versus a powerful, largely southern hemisphere Baa-Baas outfit featuring Schalk Burger, Lote Tuqiri and Matt Giteau will tell us rather less than the French annihilation.

Already, the series is preying on Umaga's mind. "It'll be 22 years since we played the Lions and it'll be very special. We will need special performances, too, like last weekend's. When you feel something like that, you want to feel it again."

So does an impatient nation, still harking back to 1987. Umaga isn't sure whether he'll still be around in 2007 but, anyway, he may have already provided his greatest service if he can somehow help this special crew avoid the fate of the four All Blacks teams between 1991 and 2003, which all froze to varying degrees when World Cup favourites.

"Sometimes, it can be a burden but it's just what we have to live with. We mustn't be afraid of that expectation nor of the weight of our past," reckoned Umaga. "We've got to be excited about our opportunity to leave our mark on the future. It's our turn to add a bit to the legacy."

Only a hunch but these men in black just may.

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Mark Tucker

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These Blacks are so special

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