All Blacks captain Umaga keeps options open on future

NEW ZEALAND stand-off Nick Evans has suggested strongly that Tana Umaga played his last game in an All Blacks jersey against Scotland on Saturday.

Reports in New Zealand on the day of the game claimed Umaga was poised to bow out as captain following the Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Test at Murrayfield.

But after the 29-10 victory over Frank Hadden’s side, Umaga insisted no decision had been taken over his future and that he would ponder his options during an imminent holiday.

Umaga, the first New Zealander of Samoan heritage to captain the All Blacks, has presided over an historic year of success in 2005.

Under the centre’s leadership the All Blacks have won the Bledisloe Cup, the Tri-Nations and whitewashed the Lions before taking care of the Home Nations in November.

The 32-year-old from Lower Hutt on the outskirts of Wellington made his New Zealand debut in 1997 against Fiji at Albany and has scored 35 tries in 73 Tests since then.

It was expected prior to this Northern Hemisphere tour that Umaga would captain his country to the next World Cup in 2007 in France.

But Evans revealed how much his skipper would be missed after the match with Scotland, who have still yet to beat the All Blacks in 100 years of trying.

Evans said: “He’s a pretty special man and he’s led the country - well, not the country but sometimes it seemed like it - so well.

“He’s put a lot into New Zealand rugby and we were just all giving him a hug at the end. Before the game it was all about focussing on the team as it has been all the way through the tour. We just concentrated on what we needed to do and took care of it.”

Evans, who was born in North Shore but plays his Super 14 rugby for Otago in the South Island, also described the scenes of joy in the visiting dressing room after securing the fabled quartet of wins.

He said: “We’ve got a huge sense of elation. We’ve achieved something that’s only happened once before and might not ever happen again so there’s a lot of guys in there that are very happy.

“When I’m 60 or 70 telling stories about it is when it will be put into context. At the moment we’re just delighted.

“There were a few guys dancing around to Jerry Collins’ R&B tunes in the sheds but we’ll take it in our stride and be humble because there’s a bigger thing happening in 2007.

“The Scots were very passionate and they’ve been known to knock off teams that are going for Grand Slams, I think they’ve done it to England a couple of times, so we knew it was going to be tough.

“Full credit to them, but we managed to tough it out and come away with the win which was great.

The 25-year-old acknowledges that the rugby world is expecting the All Blacks to win the World Cup in two years’ time but believes this autumn tour will help them achieve that ambition.

They have entered every World Cup since their only win in the inaugural one back in 1987 as favourites and Evans feels further improvement will take place next year.

Evans said: “There is always a lot of pressure as an All Black, people always throw around the ‘number one team in the world’ tag.

“But we have had a pretty successful year and I think next year will be another development year as the coaches try one or two more things as we look to 2007.