Saturday, November 25, 2006

No Haka - No Sympathy

Was really looking forward to today's game. But the whole atmosphere was ruined by the utterly pathetic 'fun and games' over the Haka. How childish can grown men be. There has never been a game between the All Blacks and Wales without the Haka - and it being performed immediately before kick-off. Seeing the All Blacks dancing the Haka in the changing rooms was just very, very sad and spoiled a great day.
The Welsh Black bull started things off well and let fly with a kick out at an official that Dan Carter would have been proud of. Perhaps he was annoyed about the Haka row as well. The two young singers matched each other - which is more than you can say for the teams. The All Blacks were awesome. No disrespect to our boys but they were not in the same league. McCaw and Collins are fearsome competitors and man-of-the-match Sivivatu was simply electric. I wanted Wales to win (despite the Haka fiasco) but I just watched enthralled by a simply wonderful performance from the Blacks. It was enough to make Graham Henry smile - even though I do not think it did.
My moments of the game were Collins' bonecrunching tackle on Mark Jones (he will never forget that) and Ali Williams 60 yd clearance from the full back position.
Under normal circumstances, I would be filled with sympathy for our boys, who I thought played none-too-badly but then there was the stupidity over the Haka. I hope it never happens again.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

don't whinge about the haka. It's not done for your entertainment. Demanding the haka is like demanding a gift. Accept it when it is given. If it is not offered, it probably is not deserved.

Anonymous said...

26/11/2006Duncan Johnstone
Thank-you Wales. If there were any doubts that the All Blacks would get up for their final test of the year, then they were dispelled right before kick-off when the Welsh played silly games with the New Zealand haka.

The Welsh quite rightly complained all week about being controversially labelled "village idiots" by one Kiwi journalist operating from the comfort of his office on the other side of the world in Auckland. But maybe he had a bit of a point after all because the Welsh stance on the haka was truly idiotic.