Irish scribe lays into All Blacks

I like the haka, it adds to the sense of occasion. Tests against NZ would be lessened without it. Incidentally, Campese was often off having a warm up punt while the rest of the team stared down the haka, the day mentioned that whole team turned their back on it (which may have been Greg Smith's idea, if indeed he was the coach at the time).

matta the AB fan: "given its a Maori dance and there are about 2 Maoris in most AB teams" Irrelevant. Australians sing a national anthem in English but there are no English players in the team. What does it matter where the thing came from? NZers own it now, and most identify with it strongly. Hence the "preciousness", I suspect. Crazy I know that people could possibly identify with something that wasn't written by someone with the same colour skin as them, but there you go... I agree with your last point though - we're talking about rugby aren't we? Isn't it all about intimidation and smashing the other bloke? What are the ABs supposed to do, go easy a bit so that the other guys like them more???

I think the old paddy has some merit.... Before our cuzzy mates get all shirty let me say I am a bit of an AB fan... Kiwis in general are precious about the Haka - thats a fact. Personally I love it but always find it funny when kiwis carry on about it...esp given its a Maori dance and there are about 2 Maoris in most AB teams...NOT VERY PC I KNOW BUT DEAL WITH IT. But other than that hes full of shit...he makes it sounds bad that the AB smash other teams physically...tosser.

When was anything 'equitable' in sport anyway? I think most people find it adds to the spectacle rather than detracts from it. And if teams don't want to accommodate it they don't have to - the team can still do it in the sheds (see Welsh test a couple of years ago). I'm sure I've read that some opposition players like it too - it fires them up. Having said that, I hate it when you see some badminton player doing it badly at the commonwealth games...

I like the Irish, always have and always will. I've got a lot of family over there. Good people. I even like this journalist. He's kicking it old school. But Greg, saying the haka shouldn't be performed because it's inequitable is more PC than saying it should be performed in the first place.

The haka is one of the great inequities in sport. Ever wonder why the All Whites, almost alone of New Zealand (male) sporting teams, do not perform a haka? It's because FIFA is one of the few administrative bodies in world sport with the spine to say that a haka is not allowed. I have no problem with the haka being allowed where both teams want to do one, as for example when New Zealand plays a Pacific Island nation. But when only one team wants to perform the haka, then it is roughly equivalent to only one national anthem being played - who would regard that as equitable?

Thanks for that response DD, very informative and entertaining. I'm looking forward to this one. Ireland were competitive in NZ earlier this year, and suspect it will be close in Dublin. NZ by 6 points.

Let's talk about the main contest at hand, ie the one on the pitch next Saturday and not the facile although probably more evenly matched "Whose-got-the-most-boneheaded-pack-of-journalists?" face off. (anyway, however doughtily Ireland and New Zealand may strive at that one, it's another pan-global sport at which you probably have to doff your hat to the Australians as being the true champions :) ) Vincent Hogan's a twunt. A much more conciliatory tone was set by the infinitely superior Gerry Thornley writing in the Irish Times the day after Hogan's screed appeared in the rival Irish Independent. . "There could be no better visitors this week than the All Blacks.It's a surprise that some colleagues are not fans. Akin to Brazil in football,they are consistently the great entertainers, the trendsetters and the standard bearers of world rugby. It would be an awfully duller rugby map without them, as the buzz of anticipation and the events of next Saturday evening will no doubt underline." I don't suppose Graham Henry will be hanging that on the dressing room wall to fire up his troops. But I agree with Thornley's gist. Apart from actually winning a Six Nations championship, as opposed to being the most consistent runners up over the past decade, beating New Zealand is the one great accomplishment yet to elude this Irish team. It is a fact that Ireland's record margin of victory against every major international side with two exceptions has been set or equalled since 2000. That is, since the emergence of the generation of players whose remaining elder statesmen (Dempsey, O'Driscoll, O'Gara, Hayes) will still be on the park next Saturday. The two exceptions are France, whose record defeat to Ireland was suffered before the First World War, and New Zealand whom Ireland have yet to beat. The French record sounds curious until you realise that the record victories of all the other home nations (England, Scotland and Wales) over France were also set in the pre Great War days of the three point try and the unkickable leather ball. New Zealand therefore remains the yardstick by which all natonal sides are measured. They have never lost to Ireland because they have never, well almost never, dropped their guard. They always pay the opposition the respect of taking them seriously. Even if it's a second string team it's always one with the skill and confidence to make sure of victory. The All Blacks never take to the pitch believing that they only have to turn up and win, as the English sometimes do to their ensuing and deserved humiliation. They always know they have to go out and prove it. The only exception in the series against Ireland was in 1992 when Ireland, who had just been whitewashed in the Five Nations sent to New Zealand a weakened side, even by their own catastrophically low standards of the time, which lost most of the warm up provincial matches. Yet in the first test they only lost by three points and dropped an attempted intercept pass in the last minute that would have given them the most extraordinary victory ever. For the second test, the All Blacks gathered themselves and like Mungo in Blazine Saddles ("don't shoot him, you'll just make him mad") they destroyed Ireland with a new record margin of victory which still stands. The All Blacks don't seem to be taking any chances this week either. Ireland, on the other hand, have a touch of the unfamiliar about them, despite the recall of some old heads to bring some vital experience to the team. In the pack, Rory Best a more solid player than the aggressive bally carrying Gerry Flannery is preferred at hooker. No suprises in the rest of the tight five but in the back row Kidney has recalled the veteran, often overlooked and frequently injured Alan Quinlan to partner David Wallace and Jamie Heaslip. Both of the latter are better known for their ball carryng than ball winning. Quinlan's "mongrel" and experience is brought in to complement these strengths, but he is not a natural ball winning breakdown snaffling Number 7 like George Smith or Richie McCaw. Neither of the last two Irish coaches seem to have been convinced of the need for such a player Perhaps next Saturday will leave them in no doubt. The big surprise is the inclusion of Tomas O'Leary at scrum half. He's a fine young player who has nailed down the starting number 9 slot at Munster but he is very green at this level. Perhaps Kidney sees him as a secret weapon unlikely to have made much impression on Graham Henry's renowned et of video dossiers on opposition players. He has also been to Croke Park before, as captain of the Cork Minor (under 18) side which won an all Ireland hurling championship some years ago. Hurling is like ice hockey but without the genteel etiquette. In the backs, Kidney has preferred the veteran and solid rather than inventive Girvan Dempsey at full back instead of Geordan Murphy, or even the "Next Great Hope" Keith Earls. He has preferred also to include Rob Kearney, another full back, on the wing rather than at 15. Fitzgerald and O'Driscoll will probably spend most of their time defending rather than carving New Zealand open in the centre. And although Bowe on the other wing is a good pro, there is nobody with the devastating pace in the backline that has been so missed since Dennis Hickie retired. My heart, and the law of averages, says Ireland. But if you were a betting man, the only smart money should really be on New Zealand. With the team they have, Ireland will really be banking on New Zealand to screw up so that they can catch them on a bad day. But New Zealand rarely oblige on that account with anybody. And never with Ireland.

What a shame but then there's always one nasty drunk in the pub.