Thu 8 Sep 2011 | 11:18
All Blacks Haka vs Tongan Sipi Tau at the 2003 Rugby World Cup

8
Comments

As you will have noticed with the way the site is now organised (and still being organised), you can now access and browse archives in a much easier fashion. With that in mind, this classic video from the 2003 RWC needs to be added to RD, so now is a good time to do it.

Having a quick look, it's got almost 8 million views on Youtube since being uploaded five years again. That's an impressive amout in relation to other great rugby videos, but it's a testiment to what a great moment it was in the sport, and we'll be treated to the same again tomorrow when the two sides face off again.

Tonga has been given the green light to go first with their traditional challenge tomorrow, and it's up to the All Blacks as to when they choose to respond with the Haka. In 2003 it was a brilliant start to the game at Suncorp Stadium, and tomorrow it will be an apt start to the Rugby World Cup, hosted of course in a part of the world that is well known for it's culture and traditions.

"Where we have two teams performing cultural challenges ... Team A, who in this case on Friday night is Tonga, will start their challenge first," said Tournament director Kit McConnell.

"And then it's up to the other team to determine when they perform their challenge. The second team performing the challenge can wait until the first team finishes their challenge or they can start after the first team starts."

Tongan captain Finau Maka has said he'll prefer if the All Blacks wait until they finish their Sipi Tau.

"I'd prefer to see one team do the haka and the other team face up to the challenge, after that the other team do theirs," he said. "I'd rather that than two teams doing the haka and the sipi tau at the same time."

There will be another clash of Haka's later in the tournament, when Fiji and Samoa meet.

For now here's a quick look at this great clip that will always be remembered as a wonderful moment from the 2003 RWC in Australia, despite the fact that the All Blacks won the game 91-7.

8 Comments

  • moddeur
    8:52 AM 09/09/2011

    Yeah I agree with you fully about big games, and I agree that hakas should be faced down with intensity. It's just that this League haka fight video always makes me laugh, so I needed to share it in case some people hadn't seen it.

  • buzzkillington
    11:05 PM 08/09/2011

    Yeah, I've seen that before. But it's League, on some random Island, between 2 nobody teams, with about 50 people in attendance.

    Fights don't happen in the big games between pros when the haka's performed, players know better.

  • guy
    10:55 PM 08/09/2011

    That must be one of the most awesome haka's I have ever seen. Not sure about the punch-up but just love the fact that they walk of like brothers who just settled a disagreement.

  • huw
    10:07 PM 08/09/2011

    Agree with Buzz. One haka responding to another at the same time builds tension even more and it's very rare that fights break out. It's great to watch in person or even on tv and the way some northern hemisphere teams have responded in the past to different hakas has been great. Bring on Sunday!

  • moddeur
    9:47 PM 08/09/2011

    Actually I know of this one example, in League I believe, the punches start flying at the end of the 2nd minute:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhyxfmoSxOA

  • buzzkillington
    7:34 PM 08/09/2011

    I don't know why the IRB even brought in that silly rule, it's not as if haka confrontations have ever resulted in fights or mass-brawls. Some intimidating eye-balling and swearing is about as heavy as it gets - And that's stuff great, if you ask me.

    Find me a person who didn't like Chabal walking France up to the AB's in 2007, was as good as the game itself! Everyone was going wild in the pub

  • guy
    7:29 PM 08/09/2011

    Oooh, bad boys. They went over their 10 meter line. Luckily the IRB had more sense back then...

  • buzzkillington
    5:58 PM 08/09/2011

    I'd rather see both at the same time, again. I thought Finau Maka was done for slavery, does anyone know what happened there? I'd just assumed for w/e reason that he wasn't playing the game anymore