Tana Umaga probably doesn’t realise that Wednesday marks two decades to the day since he and Keven Mealamu hoisted Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll aloft in a ruck and unleashed a cyclone of controversy.
When you are reminded about the incident every couple of weeks – and every couple of days, when a Lions tour rolls around – the passing years merge into a blur.
“There’s not much you can do about it. I don’t lose sleep about it,” Umaga said. “It’s just something that keeps coming up, and you can’t do much about that.”
The infamous incident, which if you’re Irish barely needs recapping, occurred in the first minute of the first Test of the Lions tour of New Zealand in 2005.
At an early ruck, All Blacks stars Umaga and Mealamu attempted to clean O’Driscoll out of the way, but it all went wrong. The legs of the Irish superstar were lifted and “BOD” speared down into the ground, dislocating his shoulder and ended his tour.
The All Blacks went on to thump the Lions 3-0 and the controversy around O’Driscoll’s foul play injury raged. And raged and raged and raged.
Neither All Black player received any punishment, and amid a tsunami of outrage, Umaga became public enemy No.1 in Ireland and Britain. His face was even on a T-shirt: “Wanted: For the Assassination of Brian O’Driscoll”.
Thirteen years later, in 2018, the pair finally made peace over dinner in Ireland, ahead of a promotional shoot for Guinness, where they spoke about having finally left it behind them.
“I’ve been back to Ireland a couple of times, quite a few times, and I’ve had no issues,” Umaga said. “It’s probably a pretty small number [who are still upset] because, as I said, no one mentions it to me when I’m there. I suppose with the advent of social media, that’s what keeps it alive. And the meaning as well.
“All of us have moved forward on it. It’s part of the rugby fabric now. The British and Irish Lions are such a formidable team. This is etched in the memory and the fabric of that team. I’m connected to that.
“People are passionate about their team, about right and wrong and what they feel should have happened. But yeah, 20 years later, we’ve dealt with it many moons ago.
“No doubt we’ll catch up when we’re both together in Melbourne. We’ll just have another laugh about it, as we always do.”
Umaga will see O’Driscoll when the Lions circus rolls into Victoria next month, having signed on to coach against them next month as an assistant for the First Nations and Pasifika XV at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on July 22.
It’s not the first time – Umaga coached the Auckland Blues against the Lions on their 2017 tour of New Zealand – but the opportunity to be an assistant to head coach Toutai Kefu was worth another wearying round of interviews on that 2005 moment.
Moana Pasifika coach Tana Umaga looks on during the round 14 Super Rugby Pacific match between Moana Pasifika and Blues.Credit: Getty Images
Umaga, who now coaches Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby Pacific, will be on a staff also containing Glen Ella, Sekope Kepu and Simon Raiwalui.
“When I got the request, I didn’t have to think about it too long – I thought it was a huge honour,” Umaga said.
“You see who else is involved in that coaching group. You know, there’s a lot of people that I respect. Glen Ella – I was a fan of his when I was growing up, so I’m looking forward to learning something off him and trying to bring back some of the 80s rugby that he played with his brothers, and those Wallaby days.”
The First Nations and Pasifika XV was created to fill the empty slot left when the Rebels shut down last year, and will feature not only Australian players with First Nations and Pacific Island heritage, but likely a handful from the Moana and Fijian Drua sides as well.
Umaga said it was a rare opportunity for some players to face the Lions.
“Not everyone gets it. It [a Lions tour] is held in such a high esteem,” he said. “For some, they may never usually get that opportunity, like not just the First Nations and Pacific Island players in Australia, but the possibility of Drua players as well as some Moana Pasifika players. That’ll be huge for those individuals if they get that chance.”
Kefu is set to reveal the team’s jersey on Thursday in Melbourne, and potentially some players, too. Umaga joked that the coaching staff had picked a strong squad until Joe Schmidt beat them to the punch.
“We had an awesome team until the Wallaby squad was named. I think we were just wishful thinking for some of the players that we were hoping to get,” Umaga said. ”But there are still quality players around.”
Umaga is a big admirer of Schmidt, and believes the Wallabies’ progress last year – and that of the country’s Super Rugby sides this year – has Australian rugby trending strongly.
“He’s such a great man. I think he’s building something within that Wallabies group that I think is something that’s as exciting to grow towards this tour, but also, invariably, in a couple of years’ time for that World Cup,” Umaga said.
