Umaga breaks silence but falls short of apology

ALL BLACK captain Tana Umaga finally broke his silence yesterday on the tackle that ended Brian O’Driscoll’s Lions tour - but refused to explain his part in the incident.

Umaga faced the press in Wellington yesterday, expressing bewilderment at how the story had deflected attention from his team’s outstanding victory.

But again he failed to apologise or even explain his version of events.

“It has been annoying, especially with what our team achieved on Saturday,” Umaga said.

“I feel more disappointed for our boys in that for the performance that we put on, especially our tight five, they should have received the accolades they deserved.

“It’s too late for explanations. It’s Wednesday, we’ve got two days to try to prepare for a game. Everyone has got their own ideas. I could try to explain it but what would that achieve? Everyone has made their decisions.

“It was obviously dealt with by the people that had to deal with it and I felt that was the end of it, other than maybe having a word with Brian himself, person to person. I’ve never had the opportunity as yet [to do that] but who knows that might happen?

“I asked some of the Lions players after the game [how Brian was] but again I don’t try to do things through the media. We will try to make contact and when we do, we will. It’s just how I am.”

O’Driscoll had expressed disappointment that Umaga had not extended the courtesy as a fellow captain of checking on him as he lay on the pitch being treated.

“I feel I had a more important role for my team at that stage,” he explained.

“I had to try to keep them together. It was such a lengthy period we had to sort out some things that worked for us. My allegiance is to the All Blacks - that’s just the way it is.”

Umaga said he had wondered whether the fallout from the incident would affect his playing style.

“That is a question I’ve asked myself. But I know I will do what I have to do,” he said.

“As a captain you have to put up with a lot, although probably not as much as I’ve had to this week. I can’t do anything to change that. I just have to live with it and move on.”

Meanwhile, US Open champion Michael Campbell last night criticised the Lions for telling O’Driscoll to throw a blade of grass into the air ‘as a mark of respect to the New Zealand Haka’ prior to the first test.

“What O’Driscoll did is regarded as disrespectful by the Maori people,” he said.

Asked about the tackle, Campbell became coy: “I thought he was just thrown in a certain direction, I didn’t see any spear-tackle. I’ve got a lot of respect for Tana, he’s a fair player and I think you should ask him the question, not me. But throwing the grass in the air is a symbol of disrespect, and I’m sure it was noted too by the All Blacks.”

He added: “They were told it was a mark of respect? That’s bullshit. No further comment.”