All Blacks boss Scott Robertson at ease with ‘respectful’ England challenge to haka before rugby clash
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The All Blacks performing a haka prior to a match against Ireland in the United States on Nov 1.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
- Scott Robertson welcomes respectful responses to the haka from England, highlighting its challenging nature and the importance of planned reactions.
- England, on a nine-game winning streak, lost three times to New Zealand in 2024 by narrow margins, setting the stage for a tight contest.
- Both teams focus on bench power, with New Zealand deploying impact players and England mirroring South Africa's "bomb squad" strategy.
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LONDON – Scott Robertson insists New Zealand will have no qualms with a challenge to the haka from England at Twickenham on Nov 15, so long as it is done “respectfully”.
Last year’s Twickenham encounter saw England advance to the halfway line to the delight of an 82,000 crowd before being edged 24-22 by New Zealand, while in 2019 they lined up in a “V formation” before stunning the All Blacks 19-7 in a dramatic Rugby World Cup semi-final success in Japan.
England prop Joe Marler – who has now retired – raised the temperature ahead of 2024’s Autumn Nations Series clash by saying the haka was “ridiculous”
The build-up this time around has been far less fiery, with New Zealand coach Robertson relishing the spectacle created by a response to the haka, a traditional Maori war dance.
“The haka’s setting a challenge and if someone does something different, respectfully, you welcome it,” Robertson told reporters in London after naming his side on Nov 13.
“There are always rules of engagement around it, but they know what we’re going to do. If you haven’t planned or covered off what they’re going to do, it can be unexpected, and that’s part of it.”
England are on a nine-game winning streak against all opponents, but lost three times in 2024 to New Zealand, albeit by a collective margin of just 10 points.
The Nov 15 clash could yet be decided by a “battle of the benches”, with New Zealand including Wallace Sititi, Anton Lienert-Brown and Damian McKenzie, fresh from his match-winning cameo against Scotland last week, among their replacements.
England, following the lead of world champions South Africa’s “bomb squad”, have stacked their bench with forwards, including five British and Irish Lions, with the reinforcements proving pivotal to wins over Australia and Fiji so far this month.
“The finishing of Test matches is critical and whoever you bring on needs to make an impact,” said Robertson.
“We’ve got good cohesion after a couple of Tests. A lot of the combinations have played together and we have a good, powerful bench to get us home.”
New Zealand will be led by Scott Barrett after the lock recovered from a wound needing 12 stitches sustained in a win against Ireland in Chicago at the start of the All Blacks’ end-of-year tour.
“It’s remarkable once you saw Scott’s cut, he’s got good healing powers,” Robertson said. “We’ve had to pull him back a bit in training. He’s ready to go.”
Meanwhile, England captain Maro Itoje believes his team can emulate one of their best performances when they take on the All Blacks, referring to their 2019 victory.
“At that stage of the journey of the team in 2019, we were ready for that sort of challenge. We felt that if we were aggressive and accurate in what we do, we would be able to get them,” he said.
“New Zealand are a good team, no doubt about that... but we’re ready to take that next step. We have a clearer understanding of how we want to play. We have more belief in what we do and how we do it.” AFP
