Joe Marler apologises for 's**thouse' attempt to spark haka debate

Out-of-favour England prop Joe Marler has now claimed there was no malice involved when he suggested this week that the haka performed by the All Blacks was ridiculous and should be binned. The loosehead, who left the England squad base at Pennyhill last Monday night for personal reasons, unloaded on the pre-game New Zealand challenge with comments on Tuesday on X, the platform formally known as Twitter.

“The haka needs binning. It’s ridiculous,” he wrote in his initial, controversy-igniting post. This was followed by a second message. “It’s only any good when teams actually front it with some sort of reply. Like the league boys did last week.”

Marler’s reference to league was the England versus Samoa game in Wigan last Sunday where the Samoans performed their pre-game dance while eye-balling their English opponents in a head-to-head stand-off. In contrast, New Zealand traditionally perform their haka in rugby union with the opposition standing in their own half of the pitch.

England were fined in 2019 after contravening the rule ahead of the Rugby World Cup semi-final in Japan, with Marler part of the match day 23 that went across the line. This week's fallout resulted in Marler deleting his social media account, but he returned the following day claiming he was only fishing with his original comments. “Context is everything,” he began.

“Just having a bit of fun trying to spark interest in a mega rugby fixture. Some wild responses. Big Love.” He added in a follow-up message: “Also needed to satisfy my narcissism.”

Marler’s ‘apology’ didn’t draw a line under the controversy, however, as a variety of New Zealanders issued fiery ripostes to his remarks. The issue was also a focal point at Thursday’s All Blacks team naming, with head coach Scott Robertson saying: “I know Joe. I wonder if he wishes he could have articulated himself better on that.

“It’s a great tradition of rugby that all Pacific nations do before to honour where they come from. It means a lot to us. The crowd enjoy it.”

Marler has now made a second attempt to extinguish his haka blaze, posting three messages on X overnight. Starting his thread with a gif showing Homer Simpson backing into a bush, the 34-year-old began: “Hey rugby fans. Just wanted to jump on here and say sorry to any New Zealand fans I upset with my poorly articulated tweet earlier in the week.

“I meant no malice in asking for it to be binned, just want to see the restrictions lifted to allow for a response without sanction.”

In part two, which was accompanied by a drawing of Richard Cockerill and Norm Hewitt eyeballing each other during a 1997 haka, Marler added: “How good were the Cockerill/Hewitt, Campese, France ’07, Tokyo ’19 or Samoa vs England rugby league responses?

“Create some entertaining drama before kick-off. My flippant attempt at sparking a debate around it was s**thouse and I should have done better at explaining things.”

His third post, which featured a picture of the England response to the All Blacks' 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final haka, Marler concluded: “I’m grateful for the education received on how important the haka is to the New Zealand culture and hope others have a better understanding too. Now roll on 3pm on Saturday for a mega rugby occasion. England by 6pts. I’ll get back in my attention seeking box now. Big Love x.”

Marler wasn’t included in Steve Borthwick’s match day 23 to face the All Blacks when it was named on Tuesday and having left camp the night before, it is said to be unlikely that he will play for England during their four-match Autumn Nations Series.