With England taking on the All Blacks at Twickenham, RUCK takes a look through some of the most memorable haka responses of all-time.
Top 5 memorable Haka responses:
#6. Ignore them
Of course, the obvious thing to do while all that nonsense is going on is just to look the other way. A smart piece of psychological chicanery? Not really. The Wallabies promptly suffered their then heaviest-ever defeat to the All Blacks, losing 43-6.
#5. The Munster haka
When the All Blacks played Munster in a tour game in 2008, the Limerick side undermined that advantage by returning the favour. Doug Howlett, who scored 49 tries for New Zealand, Lifeimi Mafi, Rua Tipoki and Jeremy Manning stood up to their countrymen by pre-empting the ritual and performing their own haka.
#4. Middle-class singing
Twickenham's tuneful attempt to drown out the All Blacks' 'Kapa O Pango' - the one reserved for opponents they really don't like - had the desired effect: England pulled off a rare victory and have hardly stopped talking about it since.
#3. 'The Richard Cockerill'
Richard Cockerill, showing all the self-restraint and composure which has characterised his coaching career, decides that the best way to mark his England debut is to square up to Norm Hewitt before a Test at Old Trafford. "What the **** have you done?" is Martin Johnson's reaction as he pulls Cockerill away.
#2. Nice T-Shirts
France not only delivered their own message of defiance, wearing T-shirts in the colours of the tricolore and standing inches away from their opponents' noses, they also won the game, 20-18, to prompt the biggest bout of World Cup agonising in New Zealand since the previous one.
#1. England's epic V
England's incredible response to an intense All Blacks Haka during the 2019 Rugby World Cup has been viewed more than 12m times on Youtube.
While most teams stand in a line while facing the Haka, English players adopted a V-formation with a number of players standing over the halfway line.
Eddie Jones men were fined £2,000 by World Rugby for standing too close to the Haka before their 19-7 win.
All Blacks hooker Dane Coles called England’s response “awesome,” while head coach Steve Hansen praised the players for standing up to it.
“They didn’t get fined for responding to the haka – they got fined for coming over halfway,” Hanson said.
“Joe (Marler) didn’t go back when he was told two or three times. The haka requires a response. It’s a challenge to you, personally, and it requires a response.
