Codie Taylor discovers personal haka link
Namibia might not be the only team at the Rugby World Cup that grew just a little in confidence after their 58-14 loss to the All Blacks.
The concern for coach Steve Hansen will be that more legitimate contenders are beginning to see his team as distinctly beatable after an ill-disciplined win over Argentina and a scratchy effort against the tournament’s bottom ranked team.
Crushing Georgia in Cardiff on October 3 just took on more significance.
Namibia’s inspirational captain and blindside flanker Jacques Burger summed up the general feeling at Olympic Stadium after his underdogs managed to hustle and annoy the defending World Cup champions for reasonable lengths of time.
‘‘A lot of these boys are eight to fivers and to play the All Blacks on the world stage was a special moment for us,’’ he said in reference to the large group of amateurs in the squad. ‘‘But I’m glad the uncertainty is over and the boys can realise it’s just another 15 humans we are playing against. They are incredible rugby players no doubt, but it’s the uncertainty of the deep ocean where you don’t know what’s under the water and you are afraid of it.’’
Another performance like this and the All Blacks likely quarterfinal opponents Ireland or France might start to take a similar view.
Hansen was taking a glass-halffull view of his side’s second pool match and vented his frustration at the endless second half stoppages that deflated the atmosphere under the stadium’s vast roof.
‘‘It was frustrating, but we got a good 80 minutes. Twenty nine of our 31 players have now played, we scored nine tries, which was a good effort.
‘‘It’s very hard to play rugby when you get a stop start game like that… it’s a good learning curve to deal with stuff like that going forward.’’
The All Blacks weren’t awful. There were some good performances from second fiveeighth Sonny Bill Williams, wing Nehe Milner-Skudder, and lock Luke Romano. There was improvement from big wing Julian Savea, who bulldozed in for two tries, Beauden Barrett produced some memorable moments and hooker Codie Taylor got around with zip.
But Hansen’s frustration at the officials – some of TMO George Ayoub’s needless interjections were intolerable and unfair to the crowd of 51,820 – will be mirrored by aspects of the All Blacks play.
There was a noticeable lack of ball runners in the pack. Victor Vito started with a hiss, but tailed off, while Jerome Kaino hit hard in defence, but didn’t impose himself around the rucks with ball in hand.
That was left to Savea and Williams, but mostly the ball was just chucked wide before the platform had been laid or phases built. The backs scored seven tries, but at times looked too flat and struggled with a rushing defence.
There were efforts to be more direct in the final quarter when Richie McCaw and Kieran Read took the field, but by then the match had unfortunately degenerated into a tedious procession of injury breaks, TMO calls and re-set scrums.
Halfback TJ Perenara was hesitant and the All Blacks phase attack drops a notch without Aaron Smith, who is arguably the single most important player in the squad.
The question now is what sort of side Hansen will put out against Georgia. They shape as a far tougher prospect than the courageous Namibians and although they won’t pose a threat to the All Blacks winning streak, they could further dent their aura. Codie Taylor’s new nickname, ‘‘Inky’’ says a lot about his brief journey as an All Black.
The 24-year-old has found out a lot about himself since the national selectors sprung a surprise and called the Sydenham hooker up for the Rugby Championship.
But nothing prepared him for the squad’s visit to the Ngati Toa marae in Wellington on the eve of their departure for the World Cup in England.
Born in Levin, Taylor has affiliations to Ngati Raukawa and Muaupoko and represented New Zealand Maori last year, but unanswered questions about his genealogy remained until a Ngati Toa elder filled in the gaps.
Taylor’s grandfather Te Mana was adopted to another Maori family, so didn’t know a lot his roots, but it turns out he was a direct descendent of the originators of the All Blacks famous haka.
‘‘Funnily enough I didn’t even know any of the stuff I found out at the marae,’’ Taylor told Fairfax Media ahead of his first test start against Namibia. ‘‘To hear that from one of the elders that he knew my koro and how closely we relate to the haka, it blew me away, it
It was frustrating, but we got a good 80 minutes. Twenty nine of our 31 players have now played, we scored nine tries, which was a good effort. Steve Hansen
shocked me a bit. It was a very special moment. I felt an instant feeling of welcome and respect from that marae.’’
Taylor’s lack of knowledge about his heritage was a product of circumstance rather than any lack of interest. The family moved to Queensland when Codie was a baby and wouldn’t return to the Kapiti Coast until he was 11.
‘‘My dad’s [Nathan] pretty involved with it [maori culture]. He doesn’t speak Maori, but he grew up going to the marae a lot. As a kid I didn’t get to see all that, but I knew it was part of me,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘I’m proud to be maori and I suppose the reason I didn’t know that stuff was my koro was adopted by another maori family. Adding that to not growing up in New Zealand I guess I missed out on some of that.’’
The All Blacks had gone to the marae to pay thanks and respect to Ngati Toa for the continued use of Ka Mate, and it’s not inconceivable that in the future Taylor might lead the pre-match ritual.
‘‘They’ve been giving me bit of stick about leading the haka, but I’ll have to earn my stripes before I can think about doing that,’’ Taylor said.
But the significance of his iwi links has clearly not been lost on his teammates and it was interesting to watch senior maori player Liam Messam push Taylor forward to accept the rautapu during a public powhiri in central London.
Messam, and the rest of the squad have also acknowledged their young rake’s status by giving him a new nickname.
‘‘My koro’s name was Te Mana, but they called him Inky and funnily enough that’s my nickname in the All Blacks now because of that. He was a very dark skinned man, so they called him Inky.’’
Taylor’s family link to the haka isn’t his only historical reference point to the All Blacks either with his great, great grandfather Walter Peter Pringle having represented New Zealand.
But a new nickname and a better sense of his maori identity isn’t the only thing Inky Taylor has gained over the past few months.
‘‘I’ve only been here a while, but I already look back on that time to how I feel now. I’m a totally different person,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘I feel like I can be myself and add something to the legacy of this team.
‘‘There are no egos in the team. That makes it a lot easier to feel comfortable and you always have Steve [Hansen] by your side asking how you are, so there are the right things in place to keep you comfortable.’’
Taylor’s parents Nathan and Christine are heading over to England for the All Blacks third pool match against Georgia and, if he plays, they’ll no doubt have a little extra pride should they see their son performing the haka.