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Why Blues would be wise to stick solid with Tana Umaga

It was inevitable that after the Blues' run of losses that people would start looking at how their management were going to react. They are reviewing the situation at the moment with New Zealand Rugby and they expect to have a resolution in a few weeks.

I hope Tana Umaga comes through the coaching review. If the Blues keep doing what they have done throughout their history of replacing coaches every time something goes wrong then they are going to keep getting the same result.

Where are they going to be if they can't get a world-class replacement for Tana? We're going to end up with someone putting their hand up thinking they can do the job.

It's got to be a case of make the most of what you've got right now.

An obvious example at the moment lies across town at the Warriors. After six, seven, eight years of bad results they've finally stuck with a coach who's had a couple of bad years; the improvement has come and now they are sitting at the top of the NRL. That might be a test model for the Blues.

There's no doubt that you get better as a coach the more coaching you do. The old, gnarly coaches who have been around for a long time understand what it is about. Coaching is not like playing where you might peak, get past your best and then slowly drift away.

Your body doesn't come into it. Your mind is sharp and you understand the game. The more you coach, the more you pick up the skills along the way. If there are examples of never stopping learning then rugby coaches would be right up there.

Again, the players have got to take a lot of responsibility. I think if you stepped back and looked from a distance, then the Blues players are as much to blame as the coach.

Having said that about Tana, I think if there was a world-class coach, someone like a Joe Schmidt, Warren Gatland, Vern Cotter or even Pat Lam - who like the others is a better coach now than he was five or six years ago - then that would be the sort of replacement you need.

The board's sights should be on someone who has gone away and built a solid track record, has a sound coaching history and is doing really good stuff on the international stage.

It will be interesting if Tom Coventry is on the Blues' radar given his experience working with Dave Rennie at the Chiefs and with what he did at North Harbour last year.

Having said all that, it is clear that the Jaguares are huge for the Blues on Saturday. It is an absolute must-win game for the Blues to sharpen the attitude from inside the camp.

When it is all said and done, when you take all the glitz and glamour away from rugby, it is a game about attitude and if your attitude is right, as the All Blacks have shown, it makes you very hard to beat.

As for the biggest story of the last fortnight, what is most obvious from the furore that developed around Israel Folau's comments on homosexuality is that the reaction is a reflection of just how far society has come in the last 30-40 years.

Thirty years ago this story would not have rated a mention any and if there had been any reaction it would have been vastly different to what happened last week. But in this day and age he can't find a friend nor very few who support him. It's a huge positive, not in what he said, but in the way everyone has reacted.

It really is a positive and I think you could give everyone a pat on the back because that reaction is the way we want to deal with this. If you want to take anything out of the Bible then no-one needs to worry about anything. We're not the ones doing the judging, God is, so get on with it. It's not our job to judge other people. You forgive and forget and move on.

In my philosophy, Hell is your conscience and you live with your conscience for the rest of your life; if you have a living hell then you are going to have trouble looking in the mirror.

I do like to see players having a voice, rightly or wrongly, and I suppose the media would love it as well. What Folau said was not great but what everyone else has come out and said, or expressed via social media, is an example of how sports stars can use their platform for the betterment of society.

We're well beyond the days where just because you are employed you have got to follow the party line, and it's good that people can be individuals and it is good that people can have a voice. So all power to Brad Weber and TJ Perenara, and others, for stating their views.