Sonny Bill Williams Shuts Down Reporter Following Tana Umaga Grilling

Umaga knew this was coming.

Tana Umaga will once again face the Lions this Wednesday, 12 years on from the famous series in 2005. That tour will long be remembered for two things, the Lions being slaughtered and that horrible tackle on captain Brian O’Driscoll.

The men responsible that day were hooker Kevin Mealamu and Blues coach Tana Umaga. Naturally after he named his team for Wednesday’s clash, the former All Blacks centre was expecting to be fielded some questions on the incident.

He was shocked however, when the first question posed to him was in relation to 2005, but not about O’Driscoll. Instead he was asked about what that series meant to him and what should the Lions expect this time round.

“I knew we were going to talk about 2005, but that wasn’t the question I was expecting,” said Umaga

“Thank you for that.”

“Look, back then as a player and in the mindset of these [Blues] players here, it’s very special to be part of a team to play against the British and Irish Lions. We had success back then but that was back then.

“It’s a different group now and it’s all about the 2017 Blues squad that’s going up against them.”

Of course eventually that dreaded question was posed to which he replied:

It’s not about that time, that’s 12 years ago so if people haven’t put it behind them then they never will,” said Umaga.

“It’s about this group now and their time against the Lions and the memories they make, which are hopefully positive ones and we move on from there.”

It didn’t end there however as Umaga was asked one more time to recall his memories of the fallout that week and how it had unfolded. Sonny Bill Willams was sit next to Umaga and was far from impressed.

“Mate, let’s just leave it alone, mate,” said Williams.

Umaga then followed up sternly.

“That’ll be a no.”