Tana Umaga has opened up on a revelation from Sonny Bill Williams regarding the legendary former All Blacks captain’s relationship with younger players in his role as a coach.
Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Umaga has been appointed to new All Blacks boss Dave Rennie’s backroom staff ahead of their upcoming Tests against France, Italy and Ireland in New Zealand in July.
Umaga will be New Zealand‘s new defence coach and is joined by former Scotland international Mike Blair and Neil Barnes as the new faces in the coaching group.
Barnes will serve as senior assistant coach, while Blair is in charge of the attack and Jason Ryan remains as forwards coach.
Umaga made 74 Test appearances for the All Blacks on the wing or at centre between 1997 and 2005 and captained the men in black from 2004 onwards until his international retirement.
Highly respected in New Zealand
As a former All Blacks skipper, Umaga is a respected figure in New Zealand rugby who currently serves as Moana Pasifika’s head coach.
Earlier this week, after his appointment as one of Rennie’s assistants was confirmed, Umaga shared a tale about his earlier days in coaching when he was annoyed at why younger players were struggling to approach him and the revealing feedback which he received from fellow ex-All Black Williams.
“It was Sonny Bill Williams that kind of told me that ‘everyone’s scared of you, Tana. They’re scared because of your reputation’,” said the 52-year-old who will continue in his role as Moana Pasifika’s coach until the completion of the Super Rugby Pacific campaign in June.
Umaga made the transition from playing to coaching during his stint at French club Toulon, where Williams started his rugby union career after switching codes from rugby league.
Since then, Umaga also had spells as a head coach at Counties-Manukau and the Blues and has learned to become more accommodating of younger players, who have plenty of respect for him due to his outstanding career as a player.
‘I spent a lot of time just trying to be myself’
“It’s funny, as soon as I finished playing and those things, I spent a lot of time just trying to be myself and not be what everyone made me out to be as the All Black captain because that’s all anyone would call me,” he explained.
“It was probably in my coaching roles, and you say your door’s open, but I didn’t have many players coming through in my early career. I wondered why.”
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Williams, who also played under Umaga during his coaching stints with Counties-Manukau and the Blues, has a close bond with his former coach who explained how he has improved his relationship with younger players over the years.
“It’s not always the reputation I have is actually a positive thing for young players because it is quite intimidating, when I’m not an intimidating person,” he said.
“I think it might be just my hair that probably intimidates people.
“It’s up to me to make that first step around breaking down barriers. I’ve formulated ways over the years. That’s probably the best, biggest thing I can do to try and move us forward as quickly as we can.”