Irish respond vividly to haka

Press, 20 November 1989, Page 48

Irish respond vividly to haka

PA Dublin The reaction of the home teams to the All Black haka has

taken various forms on their tour through Wales and Ireland. But Ireland produced the most vivid response of the tour before yesterday’s test at Lansdowne Road. Some teams have gone into a huddle, others have Jogged around or linked arms on the half-way line and faced the tourists while the All Blacks have performed their Maori challenge. However, Willie Anderson’s Irish side, adrenalin almost visibly pumping, managed the most graphic response. As the All Blacks assembled just on their side of the half-way line, Ireland’s players linked

arms on the line and edged forward towards the All Blacks as the haka built towards its climax.

Ireland’s players chanted: “You’re not going to beat us” as they moved towards the All Blacks, led by the captain, Wayne Shelford, and the loosehead prop, Steve McDowell. At the end of the haka Anderson and Shelford were eye-ball-ing each other in a stirring mental confrontation. Shelford, as has become his habit when the opposition lines up on halfway, did not jump but stepped forward challengingly. Asked what Shelford had said to him, Anderson replied he did not say anything — “but I think

he forgot to jump”. Anderson said the Irish tactics at the haka had been planned before the match.

A tip from a former AH Black captain Andy Leslie had given Anderson the idea for Ireland’s response. “We met each other this year.” “Their feeling is that if they see a side that does not stand up to them, meet them eye to eye, then they have absolutely no respect. “I’d like to think that maybe today New Zealand has not only respect for the way we approached the haka but also the way we approached the game,” Anderson said. Shelford said he did not regard

Ireland’s response as discourteous to the traditions of the haka. “They accepted the challenge — and thev looked to be putting on a bit of a haka themselves.

Shelford’s reaction might have been different if the Irish players had emulated two English players in a test in the early 1980 s.

They turned their backs and dropped their shorts during the haka.

What did appear to annoy the All Blacks was the band’s failure to play the New Zealand national anthem before the start of play. Several players lingered in a line waiting in vain for the anthem after Ireland’s had been played.