TANA SWAPS RETIREMENT VILLAGE FOR SUPER 15
February 19, 2011 in RUGBY, SPORTS
Tana Umaga arrives for the first day of training at the Chiefs Headquarters.
Tana Umaga will become the oldest living rugby player in the history of the modern game when he takes the field for the Chiefs in this weekends first round of the Super 15. When he wobbles his zimmer frame down the tunnel, it will mark a huge turn around for the former All Black captain, who left New Zealand in the lurch prior to the last World Cup.
Chief’s coach Ian Foster who has spent the last few years coaching the Chiefs to mid table mediocrity was excited about the fact that Umaga will be in his team this year. “When I rang Nowra Park Retirement Village and put the idea of Tana playing in the 2011 competition, the management were excited. From there we just completed the paper work and within a couple of weeks he was back training. We applied to the NZRFU if we could use if he could use a motorised scooter but their decline was the only set back in the entire process.”
Umaga will be forced to play with a zimmer frame in his first game back, although it is expected that by the end of the season he will only need a walking stick, such has been the progress made by Umaga on the training field.