Posted on 06/03/2006 7:10:11 PM PDT by sully777
SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand rugby fans are bidding thousands of dollars for the chance to own the handbag that reduced a burly All Blacks player to tears.
In one of the more bizarre off-field sporting incidents, former New Zealand captain Tana Umaga tangled with Hurricanes club team mate Chris Masoe in a nightclub after losing the prestigious Super 14 tournament final last Saturday.
Masoe, who has played two tests for New Zealand, tripped over a man's feet in the Jolly Poacher bar in Christchurch early last Sunday and then hit the unidentified man in retaliation.
Umaga, one of New Zealand's greatest players who played 74 tests for the All Blacks, stepped in to break up the scuffle, picking up a woman's handbag and hitting Masoe twice over the head.
Rugby players are among the toughest in sport, regularly ignoring the pain of dislocations, head cuts and other aches and sprains but being hit with a handbag was too much for a tired and emotional Masoe.
The hefty 1.83 m, 106 kg (233 lb) Samoan-born forward dissolved into tears, New Zealand media reported this week.
Adding to the indignity, rugby officials fined him NZ$3,000 ($1,890) after an inquiry into the incident but let Umaga off because he was trying to calm things down.
The unidentified woman who owns the small black handbag has put it up for sale, as well as a broken cell phone that was inside it.
The Trade Me Web site (www.trademe.co.nz) had received 71 bids for the handbag and phone by Friday, the latest offering NZ$5,500.
"Is there any guarantee hitting someone with this will make them cry?" one potential bidder asked on the Web site.
"Does it come with any makeup included? Do you have any matching belts or shoes?" asked another.
I know it was another rugby player, but if I'm confronted with a 230-lb raging Samoan, picking up a lady's purse and whacking him on the head with it wouldn't be the first thing that crossed my mind. A bazooka and a real good pair of running shoes, maybe.
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