All Blacks mocked with ‘Hakarena’
England Rugby World Cup winner Matt Dawson has mocked the All Blacks haka, urging English fans to adopt a version choreographed to a Spanish dance song for the coming tournament.
Dawson, a halfback in England’s 2003 cup-winning side, has helped turn the 1994 hit Macarena by Los del Rio, into the ‘‘Hakarena’’.
He has launched a cringeworthy video clip of the move and with it a plea for English fans to use it to counter the supposed advantage the All Blacks get from their pre-match ritual.
With a team of players dressed in a white and red uniform of England, Dawson leads them through the ‘‘Hakarena’’ and describes how it can be used against the All Blacks who defend their title.
‘‘England have an amazing chance to be crowned world champions for just the second time in their history. But, there’s a major obstacle – the All Blacks,’’ Dawson said.
‘‘The current world champions are in amazing form with awesome power, strength, depth and one secret weapon – the haka,’’ Dawson said.
‘‘They are using it to intimidate us. They think they’ve got an advantage over us. They think they’ve won the game before a ball has even been kicked.
‘‘But I’m telling you what, we’ve got our own secret weapon,’’ he says as the haka music in the background takes on a dance beat and he leads the team into their embarrassing version.
‘‘Have a go at the hakarena, maybe we’ll put the All Blacks off their rhythm,’’ he tells English supporters.
The video has been produced by British menswear retailer Jacamo who carry a line of the official Rugby World Cup merchandise.
Players from London club team the Battersea Ironsides starred in it with Dawson.
Marcus Bailey, 22, captain and hooker of Battersea Ironsides, told paperblog.com the team were asked to get involved via social media.
‘‘A choreographer came down and showed us the moves and we all picked them up pretty quickly,’’ Bailey said.
‘‘We were all up for it and had it down in about 15 minutes. It was a bit of a departure from our usual training sessions, but it was a real laugh and great to work with Matt.’’
A Jacamo spokeswoman told the website: ‘‘Our customers talk about how fans are the 16th man when it comes to big competitions and this is our way of getting behind the home side and having a bit of a giggle with it.’’
Dawson took a light-hearted view, telling paperblog.com: ‘‘I thought my professional dancing career was over when I was runner-up in Strictly back in 2006, but as you can see I’ve still got a few killer moves left.’’