Former All Black on what Tana Umaga adds to Dave Rennie’s staff

Former All Blacks prop James Parsons has provided his take on what Tana Umaga will bring to the environment under Dave Rennie, after being announced as the side’s new defence coach.

Umaga, who will continue his role as Moana Pasifika’s head coach until the end of the season, will join former Scotland international Mike Blair, Taranaki head coach Neil Barnes, and current assistant Jason Ryan under Rennie in the new regime.

Blair will look after the attack, Barnes is the “lead senior assistant, which leaves Umaga to lead the defensive systems, taking over from newly named Maori All Blacks head coach Tamati Ellison.

Parsons has played under Umaga as both a head coach and a defence coach, when he was a player at the Blues.

Speaking on his weekly podcast, which can be found on RugbyPass TV, The Aotearoa Rugby Pod, Parsons said that Umaga’s coaching is all about simplicity.

“If I look at it specifically from a defence coach point of view, defence isn’t complicated. Sometimes we, the athlete or coach, is complicated. Tana doesn’t complicate it, it is literally about the simplicity of winning collisions,” Parsons said.

“Win it together. It’s a little bit about first man set, first man takes space, which is going to do really well, and a lot I just think it’s something he has a massive amount of respect for, because he was extremely good as a player.

“He has a simplistic way of articulating it, to allow actions to come off the back of it, and at the end of the day, that’s the coach’s role, and he certainly took our Blues defence when he became the Blues defence coach, to a high level.”

The two-Test All Black admits that while playing under Umaga at the Blues, he expects a lot from his players.

“Physicality for him, winning the collision is a given. That’s not something he’s going to coach. That’s something you’ve got or you don’t, but I think a couple of areas he is outstanding in, and in terms of you understanding his player is double efforts and getting back in the game.

“Basically, you make a tackle, you’ve got to roll out of there, get back in the defensive line. So there’s a couple of things there. He rolls out, gets back in defence line and that’s you getting back in the game. But then it allows the assist tackler to see a clear picture, to try and jackle or slow the ball down.

“What he trained really well is, okay, the tackle is not always going to be able to roll out there, one of the most frustrating penalties in the game is when someone is in their jackle position and you can see your teammate is caught in there.

“So if you go in there, the rest, for me, if you don’t go in there, the rest probably going to go, look, he’s trying, you know, keep the ball moment someone goes in there.”

Parsons added that Umaga’s communication skills and ability to get the message across clearly is what makes him such an effective defensive coach.

“He did improve myself as an individual, but he improved us in the Blues, about being smarter defensively, like not chasing battles that are lost,” Parsons said on the ARP.

“Because sometimes when you’re in teams that are losing, you try to take your frustration out on the physical, but it’s like you’re actually doing more damage, giving away penalties, getting offside with the ref missing your jump because you’re two seconds behind, and then you get caught offside.

“So all those sorts of things. And, you know, I suppose the last thing that I didn’t mention on his key list is the ability to communicate, Ross, I’m inside you, like fold, or there’s just a couple of things that I really like, but the most important thing, I suppose I’m trying to get across, is it’s not rocket science, and he doesn’t make it rocket science.

“It’s the basics done really well.”