Meads: Umaga should play

THE GREATEST All Black of the 20th century has poured scorn on New Zealand coach Graham Henry’s decision to take Tana Umaga out of the firing line in Dublin this weekend. Colin ‘Pinetree’ Meads believes the captain who led a 3-0 series whitewash of the Lions should be at the helm against Ireland at Lansdowne Road tomorrow. Umaga — along with the other 14 starting players against Wales — has been replaced for stage two of the Grand Slam crusade, but the skipper’s absence was planned long ago to avoid an inflammatory situation. He, along with Keven Mealamu — who will play tomorrow — was responsible for the spear tackle on Brian O’Driscoll which ended his Lions tour, so Henry has opted to rest Umaga in order to quell Irish anger. But Meads claims it sends out the wrong signal. ‘Knowing the Irish as I do they will give us a big boo or two and that is understandable,’ he said. ‘But I think Graham Henry’s decision not to play Tana is wrong. The best thing New Zealand could have done would be to play Tana, because he is that sort of aggressive character and it would make him play better. ‘It would have been in New Zealand’s favour to play him because he is a tough bugger and nothing would upset him. Not picking him sends out the wrong message.’ Meads insists resting Umaga is the latest example of bad judgment with regard to the spear tackle row. ‘New Zealand didn’t handle it properly,’ he said at a Sports Journalists’ Association lunch in London. ‘No one went to see if O’Driscoll was OK. If Tana had gone over and said “Bad luck” it might have all been different. ‘Tana wanted to see him in hospital the next day, but the New Zealand administration advised him not to. That was a bad mistake.’

EDDIE JONES will point to the

bronze plaques commemorating England victories at Twickenham tomorrow to put his Wallabies in the right mood. ‘It’s one of the great grounds in the world and all those plaques of all the teams England have beaten over the years never fails to get us fired up,’ he said before adding tongue-in-cheek: ‘I’ll be looking for the plaque marking our victory there last year.’ Australia’s coach has dropped Matt Giteau, whose penalties beat England last year, along with Wendell Sailor and opted for inexperience. Mat Rogers takes over as the goalkicking fly half, Mark Gerrard is preferred to Sailor on the right wing and Queensland’s lock Hugh McMenamin makes his first start. AUSTRALIA: Latham; Gerrard, Tuqiri, Turinui, Mitchell; Rogers, Gregan (capt); Dunning, Cannon, Baxter; McMenamin, Sharpe; Roe, Smith, Waugh. Subs: Polota-Nau, Holmes, Chisholm, Fava, Whitaker, Giteau, Johansson.