Umaga puts his best feet forward
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:49
All Black legend Tana Umaga will not repeat the mistake of fielding an under-strength team when his French club Toulon come up against Bristol in a European Challenge Cup Round Two match at the Memorial Stadium on Friday.
Umaga, the Director of Rugby at Toulon, will keep his team under wraps for as long as possible, but he has suggested that the likes of fellow All Black Jerry Collins might take to the field against Bristol.
The former New Zealand captain admits survival in the French top flight is far more important than the European Challenge Cup, but victory on the continental stage also carriers a lot of weight.
Umaga rested a host of his top stars for their opening Challenge Cup Pool Two clash at home to Northampton last week – and ended up crashing to an embarrassing 3-56 defeat.
Bristol head coach Richard Hill appeared to be under the impression that Umaga would field a similar team this week, saving his frontline players for their crunch Top 14 clash with Castres the following weekend and giving Bristol an ideal opportunity to end their 13-match losing run.
But with eight days between their match at Bristol and the visit of their fellow Top 14 strugglers, Umaga has hinted he may be ready to switch things around.
"We knew the match against Northampton was going to be a difficult one for us and we could have put out a more experienced side," Umaga told Bristol's Evening Post.
"But with the short turnaround between the games, we wanted to give the chance to some of the guys who haven't had much game time.
"When we prepare for a game we prepare to the best of our abilities. I don't like to lose and we don't prepare for games in order to lose.
"Survival in the Top 14 is always going to be important but we enjoy playing in Europe and I like to win.
"In terms of our squad, we won't have the short week in the run-up to this game but I'm keeping the matchday squad under wraps."
After spending about 17 million Euros on his squad, Umaga is under pressure to perform in both domestic and European competition – but appeared to make his priorities clear when he rested All Black back row forward Collins against Northampton.
Australia scrumhalf Matt Henjak, Fijian flank Sisaro Koyamaibole, South Africa hooker Christiaan Liebenberg, Argentina lock Esteban Lozada, Italy flyhalf Ramiro Pez, controversial Rugby League convert Sonny Bill Williams and joint club captain Norman Jordaan were also left out.
But Umaga, who captained the All Blacks to victory over the British & Irish Lions in 2005, is under pressure from his club's wealthy owners, with former Bath and Australia coach John Connolly being linked with his role in recent weeks.
"What we are doing is marrying up some very seasoned professionals with some very young guys at the club," said Umaga.
"We want to build on the foundation of young players we have here. The average age of the team in the game against Northampton was 22, and although they were beaten they showed some real promise for the future.
"We are not only having to rebuild our side but also recapture the hearts and minds of the local people. We have been out of the top flight for four years and it is taking time to get the club back to the level of importance within the town it used to have.
"We want local kids to have the ambition of one day playing for Toulon and it is going to take time but the team has a strong foundation and the future's bright."
