Tana and Brian:

Tana Umaga and Brian O’Driscoll have met to bury the hatchet, and they hope the rugby world will too.

The pair were captaining the All Blacks and Lions in their New Zealand series in 2005 when Umaga, with help from hooker Keven Mealamu, took out O’Driscoll in the opening test with a questionable tackle that launched ‘‘speargate’’ and the controversy has raged ever since.

Now, on the eve of world champion All Blacks playing Ireland in Dublin this weekend, the pair are hoping the matter can finally be laid to rest.

They revealed in a chat about Sunday’s test as Guinness Series ambassadors that they had settled their own differences some time ago and had a lengthy and friendly dinner together recently ‘‘to chew the fat’’ again.

"We were just chatting about it the other night. I get asked about it all the time,’’ Irish great O’Driscoll, who suffered a tourending shoulder dislocation in the tackle, said at the media event

‘‘You’ve got to move on. You can’t bring those sorts of things through life.’’

Brian O’Driscoll

where the pair even shared a hongi.

‘‘In any Q&A over the last 13 years, it is probably the one question I can guarantee. It was talked about last year because it was that 12-year [Lions] cycle. We parked it a long time ago.

‘‘It was one of those things. Was it unfortunate? Yeah. Should you have dealt with it slightly differently? Yeah. You’ve got to move on. You can’t bring those sorts of things through life.

‘‘Listen, we’re able to have a laugh and take the piss about it now, properly. Sometimes you don’t get an opportunity to meet up with people in a controlled environment. We see each other