Ex-Irish player: Haka should be contested "or else it becomes one-sided pageantry"

Former Ireland midfielder Gordon D’Arcy says opposing sides should be encouraged to face the All Blacks’ haka “or else it becomes one-sided pageantry”.

Writing in the Irish Times, the 82-test midfielder said: “Former England prop Joe Marler may have chosen the wrong words to express his views on facing the haka in the lead-up to last week’s match, but I think the sentiment he was trying to portray is not wrong. The haka needs to be answered in some fashion or else it becomes one-sided pageantry.”

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s highly anticipated clash between the All Blacks and Ireland, D’Arcy said teams that hit upon the “correct tone” for facing the haka tended to have one common trait: they possessed “the capacity to beat the All Blacks”.

“Whether it was England during their tour of 2003, South Africa periodically in the Rugby Championship, France in and out of World Cups and now more recently Ireland, the haka is taken as it is meant to be, a challenge.

“The aforementioned teams had the ability to accept the challenge, and that tension is felt right across the stadium, shared by the players facing each other as well as the fans.”

D’Arcy wrote about his former coach Willie Anderson who, when captain of Ireland, led a stirring response to the All Blacks’ haka on the 1989 tour, linking arms with his teammates “dragging them inch by inch up to the haka, before going nose to nose with their skipper Wayne ‘Buck’ Shelford”.

“The Irish fans’ response was frenzied, one that created an incredible atmosphere.”

The All Blacks won the match 23-6, leaving Anderson to later say: “We won the dance but lost the game.”

D’Arcy said the rise of Irish rugby meant the side could now stand “stand with the best in the world”.

“I believe we have won the begrudging respect of the All Blacks. There was a lot said in the aftermath of the loss to the All Blacks in the World Cup quarter-final but there was also plenty left unsaid publicly.

“It has been a long road to this point but I am now looking forward to watching the haka on Friday night [Saturday NZT], knowing that Ireland will accept the challenge as peers.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission