Canes move to clarify meaning of second controversial haka
The Hurricanes have moved to clarify the intended meaning of the latest haka performed by the Poua in Super Rugby Aupiki.
The team had been in the spotlight last week after referring to “puppets of this redneck government” in their haka before their season-opening defeat to the Chiefs Manawa in Hamilton last weekend.
On Saturday, before playing and beating Matatū in Wellington, they produced a further modified version of their Poua Ki Runga haka, again led by tighthead prop Leilani Perese, this time using a phrase that was translated to English by TVNZ as: “New Zealand rise up! Here is Hurutearangi (female god of the wind)... governments are temporary, the Treaty will endure. Poua will endure”.
It again raised the ire of Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who quickly weighed in with his opinion on the matter, with a message on X. “The Hurricanes may well lose support and viewers because the CEO has a bunch of naive players damaging the brand by attempting to wade into partisan political activism without any concept of reality,” Peters posted.
“They are trying to insult the government but are instead now just slapping the Hurricane brand and CEO in the face. Go woke go broke.”
Perese later tagged Peters and ACT leader David Seymour in a story posted on her Instagram acccount, featuring a screenshot of the 36-29 scoreline to her side and a shush emoji.
A day prior to the game, and then also several hours before kickoff, Stuff had sought information from the Hurricanes as to what the Poua would be doing in regards to their haka before Saturday’s match, then also sought comment following fulltime.
Then, in a statement issued just after 10.30pm on Saturday, they aimed to clear up the confusion.
They noted that Hurricanes management, with support from New Zealand Rugby Kaihautu (Chief Advisor Māori) Luke Crawford, and the New Zealand Rugby Players Association, met with the Poua leadership group on Thursday to discuss the haka performed in round one and to ensure that, in future, any words were respectful, authentic and appropriate.
“It’s been a challenging week,” Hurricanes chief executive Avan Lee said. “We did not approve of some of the words used in the Poua haka last week and made that clear ... With the assistance of cultural advisers, the players amended their haka in a way the club was satisfied that it was respectful and true to the team.”
To that end, Poua coach Ngatai Walker said: “We understand there may be misinterpretation of individual words of this haka, but the intent of the meaning is, ‘Aotearoa unite, Hurutearangi (female god of the wind) has arrived; challenges may come and go, but we will endure’.”
Poua captain Jackie Patea-Fereti said the team had “stayed true to our beliefs as individuals and a team” and “were proud to perform a revised haka against Matatū”.