The story of angry All Blacks and their off-field haka... 15 years on

THE mood in the crowd and among journalists was initially one of confusion.

But when it became clear that the All Blacks were not going to do an on-pitch haka before the Test against Wales in Cardiff in 2006 annoyance set in among many.

The haka, after all, is considered sporting theatre and part of the ticket when New Zealand are in town. Supporters enjoy watching it, most players enjoy facing it. Being able to witness it in the flesh can inspire more than a bit of awe.

But that day it was done in the visitors’ changing room. The events unfolded 15 years ago last week.

Rather than agree to the Welsh Rugby Union’s plan for Wales to answer the haka with their own national anthem, the All Blacks did their ceremonial war-dance inhouse, performing it before an audience of reserves and support staff in the dressing room.

The WRU said at the time they were following an historical precedent, with the Welsh crowd having responded to the haka in the 1905 game between the countries by singing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau.

They also insisted they had given the Kiwis notice of their intentions. None of which cut any ice with the visitors. When the match started, they expressed their anger in a display of venomous brilliance, running out 45-10 winners.

Those surmising that the pre-game spat had wound up those in rugby it’s never wise to wind up – well, those people surmised correctly, a point later confirmed by Wales’ Adam Jones in a column for ESPN. “Facing the All Blacks is difficult enough, let alone when they’re hurting.

“Playing against them in Cardiff for Wales back in 2006 will always stick with me. For some reason the powers that be decided that it would be a good idea to try and convince the All Blacks to do their haka before we responded with our national anthem.

“Usual tradition is to do the anthems first before they lay down their challenge. They obviously said no and subsequently decided to do the haka in their changing room, which was shown on the big screen at the Millennium Stadium before the anthems were sung.

“They put 40-odd points on us that day, and Nick Evans – who I know from Harlequins and was involved in that All Blacks squad – has since told me the incident ensured they wanted to destroy us.

“As players we had wound them up without realising because the management and our Welsh Rugby Union wanted to mess around with the haka, which proved to be the wrong call.”

New Zealand had agreed to the WRU’s request the previous year to mark the centenary of the 1905 match between the countries by replaying the way it had been ahead of the game 100 years earlier.

But the Kiwis viewed that episode as a one-off.

“We said (yes) as long as it went back (to the post-anthems protocol) when we came back the following year, and they said that was fine,” New Zealand’s then full-back Mils Muliaina has since recalled.

When the All Blacks turned up in Cardiff, though, they learned the WRU wanted them to stick to the order of service that had been played out the previous year, with the haka taking place for the Welsh anthem.

“They said, ‘it’s either that way or it was nothing at all,’’ Muliaina recalled.

“It didn’t really bother us until the end of the week, and we just thought ‘we will do it in the changing room.’

The blame game was duly played out, with one UK writer asking: “Is there any end to the preening, pretentious pomposity of the All Blacks?”

A New Zealand sports writer duly returned serve with a blast that wasn’t altogether complimentary about the Welsh Rugby Union, with ‘lowlife slimeballs’ among the kinder epithets thrown out.

It all got a bit schoolyard.

But New Zealand had made their point on the pitch.