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Yes, I’m admitting I’m angry and upset as we just lost the Bledisloe Cup that we were chance of winning. So maybe I’m venting! But while watching the first 20 minutes it seemed to me the All Blacks wanted it more.
They were more aggressive, they were harder on the ball, they were possessed.
I couldn’t help but think, why? What did they do differently to the Wallabies? Did they both show up as equals, did they do their drills, have the same changing rooms and have the same anthems? The answer is no!
After all, if one team got to say the last words before kick-off – “I’m going to kill you and you can’t say anything back” – and the other just had to stand on their line and take it, how is that fair? History says the team saying, “I’m going slit your through” is the most successful team in the history sport.
So is having the last word what makes them the most successful team in history? History tells you it must be!
When arguing this point with my Kiwi mates they told me about tradition. The Samoans, the Fijians, the Tongans all do their war dance. I couldn’t help but feel these island nations don’t have the money for their rugby team that New Zealand has.
My Kiwi mates tell me that we should come up with our own dance; something to intimidate us, they say. But I can’t help but feel, why? It’s not a matter of responding, it’s a matter of wondering why do they get the opportunity when no one else does?
At the soccer World Cup there is no haka; at the Olympics there is no haka; and at the Tour de France there is no haka. Before an NRL game involving New Zealand there is no haka, so why is there a haka at any other time?
Most of my Kiwi mates tell me I’m upset because I just lost and they tell me I love the haka when it’s against another team – it’s a great spectacle of rugby! But I’m sure that when the English watch they’re angry and when the South Africans watch they’re angry.
The problem is at each game there is only 10 per cent of the rugby population emotionally attached with having something rammed down their throat.
So I can’t help but feel what would the rugby world be like without the haka? Would New Zealand be so successful? Would they have dominated teams? I mean, when you stand in front of someone and say I’m going to cut you from stomach to throat, surely it must be intimating? I mean, if you were in a room with Jack the Ripper, are you not a little worried?
The kicker is New Zealand has been voted the most peaceful nation on earth! Apparently the peace selectors weren’t there when their rugby team was saying I’m going to slit your throat!
At the end of the day my Kiwi mates tell me that we either have to come up with a response or deal with it! I say why should 90 per cent of the rugby world have to deal with it when we say, mate, we’ve all got culture but we left it on the sideline!
The Africans could sing the oldest war dance in the world but they say we respect our opposition enough to not to waste their time.
So my Kiwi mates say the haka makes no difference on the outcome of the game! So I say if the haka makes no difference why not prove so? Why not say, okay, we’ll stop doing it for four years in between World Cups and we’ll prove our winning percentage is greater than when we did do the haka!
Funnily enough, that’s when the Kiwis start defending the haka! If you believe it doesn’t make a difference why not show the world so? The rest of the world are doing you a favour by letting you do haka, why not return the favour and say, “We’ll win without it.”
So dear Kiwi reader, I ask you if you defend the haka do you have a fear of losing without it? If so, do ask yourself why? Is it a fear of losing tradition or is it a fear of losing the front-foot advantage?
If you’re a warrior nation it makes no difference! Be man enough to see what you’re like without it!
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.