Polynesian Warrior
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Umaga in the money
21 June 2006
By JIM KAYES
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Tana Umaga is set to become a million-dollar man.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The Wellington and Hurricanes centre will finalise a deal in the next two days with French club Toulon that will earn him $1.4 million for eight to 10 games in the French second division. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Umaga, 33, has received clearance from the New Zealand Rugby Union to join the Pro D2 club for November and December. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Rob Brady, the former All Blacks captain's manager, would not comment yesterday, but Toulon's president, Mourad Boudjellal, said the deal was 90 per cent done. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We have been discussing with him, via his agent, by mail and telephone for a month," Boudjellal said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We made an offer, they raised the bid and we will keep on talking. Tana Umaga is 90 per cent a Toulon player. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"But the remaining 10 per cent are the most difficult to finalise." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Toulon were relegated at the end of the just-completed French season and Boudjellal and Stephane Lelievre, who share the club's presidency, have put U750,000 ($1.5 million) of their own money into the club's budget. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Umaga, who has previously turned down three offers worth more than $1 million from Japanese, English and French clubs, is expected to be paid U350,000 ($700,000) a month by Toulon $1.4 million for the two months he will be there. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"I will not give any numbers but it will be one of the biggest transfers in the history of French rugby," Boudjellal said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"I am paying for Umaga myself. I am Toulonnais and, as probably the first-ever immigrant rugby president, I feel I have a mission for my town and I offer Umaga to Toulon." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Umaga will take his wife, Rochelle, and their children with him to Toulon. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]They will leave after Wellington's NPC campaign, which could finish with the Air New Zealand Cup final on October 21. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Umaga will return in time for the Super 14, which is scheduled to kick off on February 2. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper was confident Umaga's time in France would help, rather than hinder, his preparation for the Super 14. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"You can't find anyone more professional than Tana and he will turn up in great condition and mentally fresh from being away from the Wellington environment." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Cooper said Umaga still had "a lot to give" and would be invaluable if the NZRU followed through with All Blacks coach Graham Henry's call for players to be rested in the first half of the Super 14. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Cooper said Umaga deserved the opportunity Toulon were offering. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"He has bled enough for both jerseys (Wellington and the Hurricanes) to go away, particularly with his family." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Umaga is not the only former international on Toulon's shopping list. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Former Springboks prop Ollie le Roux is also expected to be contracted, as well as Samoan first five-eighth Roger Warren. [/FONT]
21 June 2006
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Tana Umaga is set to become a million-dollar man.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The Wellington and Hurricanes centre will finalise a deal in the next two days with French club Toulon that will earn him $1.4 million for eight to 10 games in the French second division. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Umaga, 33, has received clearance from the New Zealand Rugby Union to join the Pro D2 club for November and December. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Rob Brady, the former All Blacks captain's manager, would not comment yesterday, but Toulon's president, Mourad Boudjellal, said the deal was 90 per cent done. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We have been discussing with him, via his agent, by mail and telephone for a month," Boudjellal said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"We made an offer, they raised the bid and we will keep on talking. Tana Umaga is 90 per cent a Toulon player. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"But the remaining 10 per cent are the most difficult to finalise." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Toulon were relegated at the end of the just-completed French season and Boudjellal and Stephane Lelievre, who share the club's presidency, have put U750,000 ($1.5 million) of their own money into the club's budget. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Umaga, who has previously turned down three offers worth more than $1 million from Japanese, English and French clubs, is expected to be paid U350,000 ($700,000) a month by Toulon $1.4 million for the two months he will be there. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"I will not give any numbers but it will be one of the biggest transfers in the history of French rugby," Boudjellal said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"I am paying for Umaga myself. I am Toulonnais and, as probably the first-ever immigrant rugby president, I feel I have a mission for my town and I offer Umaga to Toulon." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Umaga will take his wife, Rochelle, and their children with him to Toulon. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]They will leave after Wellington's NPC campaign, which could finish with the Air New Zealand Cup final on October 21. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Umaga will return in time for the Super 14, which is scheduled to kick off on February 2. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper was confident Umaga's time in France would help, rather than hinder, his preparation for the Super 14. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"You can't find anyone more professional than Tana and he will turn up in great condition and mentally fresh from being away from the Wellington environment." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Cooper said Umaga still had "a lot to give" and would be invaluable if the NZRU followed through with All Blacks coach Graham Henry's call for players to be rested in the first half of the Super 14. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Cooper said Umaga deserved the opportunity Toulon were offering. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]"He has bled enough for both jerseys (Wellington and the Hurricanes) to go away, particularly with his family." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Umaga is not the only former international on Toulon's shopping list. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Former Springboks prop Ollie le Roux is also expected to be contracted, as well as Samoan first five-eighth Roger Warren. [/FONT]
