nonetheless made roughly €350,000 (US$438,000/GBP 250,000) that Toulon's co-presidents reportedly paid out of their own pockets. The day before playing his first match for Toulon he was awarded the medal of honour of the city of Toulon (médaille d'or de la ville) by Mayor Hubert Falco. On 29 October 2006, Umaga started in his first game three days after arriving in Toulon scoring his team's only try in a 22–16 victory against Lyon. He was surprised to see how close to the players the fans were and how noisy the atmosphere was. Umaga returned to New Zealand at the end of his contract with Toulon following their 7 January 2007 win over Grenoble. When Umaga arrived in Toulon they were ninth in the Pro D2 table; when he left they had risen to third. Toulon won eight of nine matches with Umaga on the roster – the only loss coming when he was out injured. Umaga played his last season for the Hurricanes in 2007. His last match for them was on 5 May 2007 at Wellington's Westpac Stadium. On 25 September 2007, Umaga released a book detailing his career. 2011 return Umaga was named in the Chiefs' starting line-up for their opening Super Rugby fixture of the 2011 season to face the ACT Brumbies. This signalled his first Super rugby game since he was a Wellington Hurricanes regular in 2007. After playing 7 games he officially retired as a player at the end of 2011 ITM cup season. Coaching During the 2008/09 Top 14 season, Umaga's coaching future was uncertain because Toulon were struggling at midseason and were in danger of relegation. This led to speculation in January 2009 that he would be replaced as manager by Philippe Saint-André. This was confirmed on 27 January 2009, with Umaga taking on the role as player/manager at the age of 35, and at the same time announcing he would not return as head coach for the following season. A late-season return to form eventually brought Toulon to mid-table safety in ninth place. Saint-André took on the managing role effective at the beginning of the 2009/10 season, but kept Umaga on as Toulon's backs coach. On Friday, 12 March 2010, Counties Manukau announced that Umaga had signed for the province as a player coach for the Air New Zealand Cup. Counties competed well, with two hard-fought Ranfurly Shield challenges and a peak