Razor Robertson on anti-haka tweet

All Blacks coach Scott Robertson has defended the haka and said England prop Joe Marler could have chosen his words better when he said it “needs binning”.

Robertson talked to media after naming his side to face England at Twickenham on Sunday.

“I know Joe,” said Robertson.

“I wonder if he wished he could have articulated himself a little bit better on that.

“The haka for us is a custom. It is part of who we are, it’s our DNA. It is not just about the All Blacks, it is about us as a country. It means a lot to us.”

Robertson admitted Marler’s criticism was discussed among his team.

“The boys are aware of it,” he added.

“We don’t use it as such to say, ‘this is what has been said and it’s disrespectful’. Especially in this regard, because it has happened before. But we will discuss it and decide how we deal with it respectfully.”

On Wednesday, Marler took to social media to write “The Haka needs binning. It’s ridiculous”, days out from the All Blacks and England’s third test of the year, to be played at Twickenham stadium. Marler deleted his account shortly after.

The post received thousands of comments and reactions, before Marler attempted to clarify it by writing “It’s only any good when teams actually front it with some sort of reply. Like the league boys did last week.”

Now, with his social media presence restored, Marler attempted to explain his original post, understood to be a reference to England’s rugby league victory over Toa Samoa last weekend.

“Context is everything,” he posted. “Just having a bit of fun trying to spark interest in a mega rugby fixture. Some wild responses. Big Love x.”

England’s Daily Telegraph has also reported that Marler has left Steve Borthwick’s England camp early.

While the England prop is not involved in this weekend’s match at Twickenham, his comments are bound to increase tensions between the two sides leading into England’s first game of the autumn.

Marler, 34, broke his foot during the first test between England and New Zealand earlier this year and has not played since then for club or country. Ellis Genge will start at loosehead prop for England this weekend, while Fin Baxter, Marler’s Harlequins teammate, has been named on the bench.

Marler has history when it comes to the haka, notably crossing the halfway line during the build-up to the 2019 Rugby World Cup semifinal. Marler was told to move back by referee Nigel Owens, and England went on to be fined £2000 ($4357) by World Rugby for breaching tournament rules “relating to cultural challenges”.

Marler later explained on The Jonathan Ross Show that England had been confused how they were supposed to line up in response to the haka, ending up in a “V” formation.

“The issue was, Ben [Youngs] drew it up the night before ... he got up and he did it on a flipchart and he marked it all out with Xs and Os,” Marler said at the time. “The issue I had with it is I look at that board and thought, ‘It’s not to scale’ ... I thought we were meant to be closer than what the picture said.

“[I went over the line] which I thought we were all going to do but then I looked back and they weren’t doing it but I thought, I’ve already committed now.”

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