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Haka won't be limited - Cane

New Zealand perform the haka

New Zealand have no intention of limiting the performances of their famous haka and Australia’s Will Genia is delighted.

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Reports have suggested some former All Blacks believe the haka has lost its significance and was no longer the intimidating routine it once was, with calls for it to only be used before significant matches.

However, the current crop of internationals insist they will continue to perform the Maori war dance ahead of all Tests, starting with Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash with Australia.

“From an All Blacks’ point of view we love doing the haka,” said flanker Sam Cane.

“We do a light run-through at the captain’s run and we bust it out on Saturday, and it’s sort of the final touch [of getting ready to go].

“We’re well aware of the strong history it has, and it’s part of who we are as All Blacks. It’s as strong and powerful as ever, in my opinion.”

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Genia is likely to face the haka at ANZ Stadium this weekend and he is glad New Zealand will not pick when to do the haka in future.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s just an expression of their culture and people can says it’s over-commercialised, but they don’t do it for a commercial purpose, they do it because it’s something that’s important to them in terms of their culture. 

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“From our perspective, we have an incredible amount of respect for it.

“It’s also a spectacle as well. It’s great to be a part of. You want to play the All Blacks because they’re the best team in the world. But you also want to play them because it’s a privilege to face something like that within our game.”

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F
Flankly 2 hours ago
There remains a culture of excuses in Australian rugby

One team has exceeded expectations in this series and the other has not. Hats off to a Wallabies team in rebuild mode for a smile-inducing effort in the second test (especially the first half).


Completely agree that a top ranked team finds ways to defend a big half-time lead, and they did not quite pull it off. The fact that Piardi did not run the Head Contact Process in the 79th minute Tizzano/Morgan incident is worth discussion. However, Schmidt will be pointing out to the team that avoiding a defensive breakdown on your own 5m line at that point in the game is the thing in their control. Equally, clarification 3-2022 says you cannot jump or dive as a means of avoiding a tackle, as Sheehan admits to have done, but the question for Australia is why and how they were facing a tap-and-go 5m from their line (again).


Where I disagree with this article is the suggestion that Australia are caught in an excuse-making trap of poor performance. For me they are on a steep curve of improvement, and from what we have seen of Schmidt, there is little reason to assume that this will end now. Granted Australia lacks player depth, and that’s a real problem against big teams and in major campaigns. But the Lions are a pretty good team, probably ranking in the top five in the world, and the rebuilding Wallabies were seconds (and a couple of 50/50 ref calls) away from beating them at the MCG.


In the end, the Wallabies are building to a home RWC, and were expected to lose the Lions series on the way to that goal. Success looks like being seriously competitive in the series loss, with good learnings about what needs to be fixed. A series win would have been a fantastic bonus, and humiliation for the UK/Ireland team.


I expect the Wallabies to be very credible in the 2025 RC, to be much better in 2026, and to be a very challenging opponent for any team in the 2027 RWC.

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