That tackle is in the past

at events here and there and have a quick word.

‘‘Actually, to have a get together and chew the fat and properly get to talk and not feel scared by it is refreshing and, I hope, it’s dead after this.’’

Umaga, the blockbusting centre who these days coaches the Blues in Super Rugby, agreed in a report in the Irish Examiner.

‘‘Exactly, we had a great dinner. That was the key thing for us, to have time together. You pass each other fleetingly at matches and engagements,’’ he said.

‘‘To really sit down and chew the fat around that was great. That’s just part of this game.

‘‘We can’t change the past. Yet, it is something whenever I do something that I get asked about and it is well settled between us, put it behind us. As Brian has said, hopefully this will really put it behind people and we will make peace with it now.’’

The pair are adamant the Lions remain relevant and point to last year’s pulsating return series in New Zealand which was drawn.

Umaga believes the Irish players running out this weekend who were in the Lions will take great heart from that tour on the back of their breakthrough defeat of the All Blacks in Chicago the year before.

But he warned Irish fans that New Zealand would be motivated by the ‘‘scars’’ dealt to the All Blacks from those tough matches.

‘‘You learn a lot from the scars that you get. If you think it was a nick, you can get complacent and see it as just an anomaly. If the scar is deep enough, you get to learn a lot more out of it,’’ Umaga said.

‘‘For us, the first time that it’s happened scars you deeply when you are part of the side that has created history, not the history that you want.

‘‘For me, I would say it would scar them deeply.

‘‘I don’t think you can discount what’s happened in the past and how much it means to the All Blacks to do well against the Irish at home, which is going to be tough, because it means a lot.’’

‘‘We can’t change the past .. it is well settled between us.’’ Tana Umaga

STUFF Brian O’Driscoll clutches his shoulder as he leaves the field during the first test between the All Blacks and the British and Irish Lions in Christchurch in 2005, after a questionable tackle involving Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu. The incident became a huge talking point, as shown by this banner (inset) during a subsequent All Blacks training session.

Television footage shows Keven Mealumu, left, and Tana Umaga grabbing Brian O’Driscoll’s legs.