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All Black calls into question Bok fans behaviour and stunt during haka

South African supporters celebrate after South Africa won the Rugby Championship Test match between South Africa and New Zealand at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg on August 31, 2024. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP) (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)

All Black flyhalf Damian McKenzie said he disagrees with the Ellis Park crowd’s behaviour during their performance of the traditional pre-match haka and the decision to do an aeroplane flyover simultaneously.

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McKenzie was also loudly booed every time he lined up a kick at goal.

Replacements Kwagga Smith and Grant Williams scored late tries as South Africa came back from a 10-point (17-27) deficit, to record a dramatic victory over New Zealand in a Rugby Championship thriller in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The result put the Boks in a prime position in the tournament, if first place – eight points clear of the All Blacks.

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All Black flyhalf Damian McKenzie speaks about the ‘disrespectful’ behaviour of the crowd during the haka and the untimely flyover

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    All Black flyhalf Damian McKenzie speaks about the ‘disrespectful’ behaviour of the crowd during the haka and the untimely flyover

    However, the pre-match build-up was shrouded in controversy by an aeroplane flyover during the performance of the haka.

    The home crowd’s loud chanting also ruffled a few Kiwi feathers, as it drowned out the haka.

    “It is the first time I have played here in Johannesburg,” McKenzie told a post-match media briefing.

    Rugby Championship

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    W
    L
    D
    PF
    PA
    PD
    BP T
    BP-7
    BP
    Total
    1
    South Africa
    3
    3
    0
    0
    14
    2
    New Zealand
    3
    1
    2
    0
    6
    3
    Argentina
    3
    1
    2
    0
    5
    4
    Australia
    3
    1
    2
    0
    4

    “I was told it was [going to be] pretty loud.

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    “You can understand the roars of the crowd, and the music is a little … yeah.

    “I probably don’t agree with it as much.”

    He said he wasn’t sure if the timing of the flyover was meant to occur at the same time as the haka’s performance.

    “It is an opportunity for us to connect with our [people] back home and our ancestors,” he said of the reason for the traditional pre-match war cry.

    “We knew the noise was going to be there, but it is out of my control.”

    The 29-year-old No.10 described the mood in the All Black camp as “pretty disappointing” after a match they could so easily have won.

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    “Late in the [second] half we put ourselves under pressure with our [lack of] discipline,” he said about the late Bok rally – the hosts coming from 10 points down in the wake of an Ofa Tu’ungafasi yellow card.

    With the All Blacks struggling late in games – having gone scoreless in the last quarter four games on successions – McKenzie said accuracy is the key to breaking that late-maTCH drought.

    “It’s those 50-50 ones [calls] you want to have a crack, but shouldn’t,” he told a post-match media scrums.

    “It’s about pushing the boundaries too far.

    “Against this South African team, they have great kickers that put the ball in the corner and their set pieces were good.”

    With the Freedom Cup – in All Black hands since 2010 – up for grabs, McKenzie said they know what is required of them in Cape Town next Saturday.

    “For the majority of the game we were in control and then we just took our foot off the pedal a bit,” the No.10 added.

    “We know what is on the line next weekend.”

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    Comments

    44 Comments
    P
    Pixie 213 days ago

    Ah hahaha here we go again! Pure entitlement attitude again here... Welcome to an away test match at the home of the world champions my friend! How is the crowd responding with chants any different to a bunch of okes waving their arms, pulling their tongues out, and giving throat slicing gestures? They just getting the response they are provoking anyway!


    Have they apologised for injuring Siya? Have they apologised for all the entitlement comments about luck and the referee after the world cup final? Have they apologised for kicking SA teams out of Super Rugby? Next week in fact Cape Town crowd should chant back even louder and the SAAF should bring a few Gripen fighter jets over during the haka to raise the noise levels even higher!


    Looking forward to another cracker on Saturday.

    M
    MattJH 214 days ago

    They trot out this boring ass topic every season.

    RESPOND HOW EVER YOU WANT ITS ALL GOOD.

    If any NZer moans tell them to harden up or save the haka for home tests.

    And the DJ at Ellis park was probably just some poor rave head who’d just smashed back a line of blow and forgot what he was doing. Honest mistake.

    C
    ClintP 214 days ago

    All Blacks fan here… the Haka is a challenge and should be met anyway the opposition ( and their crowd) see it… within reason obviously. Just a shame for the people who would have liked to have heard it.

    D
    DP 214 days ago

    I don’t think we will see the same happening in CT this weekend, it was a massive occasion following the WC final so the crowd was pumped IMO. Bok players love facing it and give it the respect they feel it deserves, can’t ask for more than that! heres hoping for less refereeing howlers.

    D
    DG 214 days ago

    Perfect example of Kiwi entitlement. 90% of that crowd don't know anything about your haka or even care about it or about you connecting with your ancestors. They are there to watch rugby. Get over yourselves.


    Airplane and music was a timing thing.

    Q
    QDOS 214 days ago

    Harsh but fair!

    Q
    QDOS 214 days ago

    Haka well overdone and too precious for words, NZ always whining about respect and need to get over themselves.

    The throat slitting gesture in one of the Haka variants is offensive and should be dropped.


    Rgds Kiwi Realist

    P
    PK 213 days ago

    I can see both sides of it. The Haka is definitely part of the heritage of this rivalry, and should be respected. That said I think it should be only done on NZ territory. The crowd at Ellis Park has always been fanatical. But overall they are paying admission, and should have some fun

    i
    ig 213 days ago

    Agree that the haka should be simple and inoffensive. Not sure why our eighthcastes want to connect with an eighth of their ancestors: where does that leave the Pakeha and the Islanders?

    h
    hoots1956@gmail.com 214 days ago

    Mckenzie just another losing winja if you can't handle your stupid fukn haka getting drowned out then do it in the changing room you don't do it for the people back home it's always been an intimidating tactic glad you fuckn lost and hope you lose the next one

    C
    Chiefs Mana 214 days ago

    You'd be fun at parties

    J
    JK 214 days ago

    I like the haka. I am not sure it's as intimidating as it's made out to be it...


    Bok fans range from classy to rude just like any other group of fans...


    DMac is a good player but needs to toughen up a bit I think...


    If Siya is out, who starts at 6?

    j
    jb 214 days ago

    This was really bad from SA. The planes have gone over the statium for years without any issues. This year it was done on purpose. Even the DJ started playing music before the haka was done. This is done in bad spirit. And if you can't see it is wrong then you are a part of the problem and there is no point in talking about it to you.

    We should do better. I can see now why SA supporters are some of most arrogant and least like supporters out there. And yes, I am a Springbok supporter and have been my entire life. But how we are conducting our selfs at the moment is not good.

    B
    Bull Shark 214 days ago

    Speak for yourself. Dont pretend to speak for all SA supporters. That’s arrogance personified.

    B
    BP 214 days ago

    South African rugby is a disrespectful scandal

    B
    Bull Shark 214 days ago

    Burner account alert.

    T
    Terence T 215 days ago

    #Saru and the Sport Minister need to start a drive to #educate these, low class, so-called fans.


    The disrespect, arrogance and entitlement is simply next level.


    What they don't realize, is that they don't have any regard for values and traditions, for visiting teams and travelling supporters.


    They are an embarrassment, to themselves, and SA, but somehow, they don't know it.


    Educational campaigns will probably not be that effective, because #education is not for everyone.

    I've seen a pic of a disrespectful and hateful poster in the hands of a 7/8 year old, white child.


    Where does he learn that?

    Who is teaching him to hate other sporting codes, and ultimately people of colour?


    These people, are simply out to disrespect and abuse visiting teams and their supporters.

    Spoiling the experience of opposing supporters are all they're interested in.


    To the NZ rugby squad and visiting supporters, the majority of South Africans are good and decent people.


    We don't deserve the #haka !!


    Consider dropping the #haka when playing here.

    B
    Bull Shark 214 days ago

    F#k Sokker?


    It’s a joke. A little bit of fun and humour.

    j
    jb 214 days ago

    Was with you a 100% till you brought race into it. Guess what? You are no better than those you try to call out. Sies man.

    B
    BM 214 days ago

    You have to be old enough to remember the movie the F*k Sokker thing comes from. Got nothing to do with race.

    N
    Ninjin 215 days ago

    Were you hatched from an egg?

    W
    Wayneo 215 days ago

    Ou tannie met n nat broek.

    M
    MM 215 days ago

    May be its time for all blacks to do haka at home only

    M
    MattJH 214 days ago

    Either that, or accept that people around the world do not share the same cultural etiquette.

    l
    lm 214 days ago

    That would mean all the other nations as well.

    If SAF had something like the Haka all the saffy crowd would shut their bloody mouths for it and cheer the hell out after it.

    Every other nation would "respect" them. Sadly the saf fans dont eh.

    Jy moet wakker word

    B
    Bull Shark 215 days ago

    Personally, I’d like to be able to hear the haka. But I don’t think you can expect the ticket paying home crowd to comply. The main thing is that the stands are full and the people are having a good time.

    j
    jb 214 days ago

    Yes you can, it is called manners. And if you say you can't expect 1000's of fans to behave then that says all there is to say about bok supporters. If 60 000 fans can be dead silent when they take a kick at goal up north the surely these things in SA can try and behave?

    D
    DP 215 days ago

    Nothing wrong with the crowd drowning out the Haka, the plane flyover was obviously unfortunate the timing.

    j
    jb 214 days ago

    No it was not bad timing, they knew what they were doing. Even the DJ started playing music before the haka was over.

    C
    CM 215 days ago

    I very much doubt that Emirates Airlines exactly timed their flyby to deliberately spite the All Blacks. Seems like unfortunate timing.

    j
    jb 214 days ago

    Your comment is unfortunate.

    B
    BM 215 days ago

    I agree - but I'll like the crowd to more quiet - difficult to hear the haka on TV and takes away viewer experience.

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    f
    fl 46 minutes ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    “He won a ECL and a domestic treble at the beginning of his career.”

    He won 2 ECLs at the beginning of his career (2009, 2011). Since then he’s won 1 in 15 years.


    “He then won 3 leagues on the bounce later in his career”

    He won 3 leagues on the bounce at the start of his career too - (2009, 2010, 2011).


    If we’re judging him by champions league wins, he peaked in his late 30s, early 40s. If we’re judging him by domestic titles he’s stayed pretty consistent over his career. If we’re judging him by overall win rate he peaked at Bayern, and was better at Barcelona than at City. So no, he hasn’t gotten better by every measure.


    “You mentioned coaches were older around the mid-2010’s compared to the mid-2000’s. Robson was well above the average age you’ve given for those periods even in the 90’s when in his pomp.”

    Robson was 63-64 when he was at Barcelona, so he wasn’t very old. But yeah, he was slightly above the average age of 60 I gave for the top 4 premier league coaches in 2015, and quite a bit above the averages for 2005 and 2025.


    “Also, comparing coaches - and their experiences, achievements - at different ages is unstable. It’s not a valid way to compare and tends to torpedo your own logic when you do compare them on equal terms. I can see why you don’t like doing it.”

    Well my logic certainly hasn’t been torpedoed. Currently the most successful premier league coaches right now are younger than they were ten years ago. You can throw all the nuance at it that you want, but that fact won’t change. It’s not even clear what comparing managers “on equal terms” would even mean, or why it would be relevant to anything I’ve said.


    “You still haven’t answered why Kiss could be a risker appointment?”

    Because I’ve been talking to you about football managers. If you want to change the subject then great - I care a lot more about rugby than I do football.

    But wrt Kiss, I don’t agree that 25 years experience is actually that useful, given what a different sport rugby was 25 years ago. Obviously in theory more experience can never be a bad thing, but I think 10 years of coaching experience is actually more than enough these days. Erasmus had been a coach for 13 years when he got the SA top job. Andy Farrell had been a coach for 9 when he got the Ireland job. I don’t think anyone would say that either of them were lacking in experience.


    Now - what about coaches who do have 25+ years experience? The clearest example of that would be Eddie Jones, who started coaching 31 years ago. He did pretty well everywhere he worked until around 2021 (when he was 61), when results with England hit a sharp decline. He similarly oversaw a terrible run with Australia, and currently isn’t doing a great job with Japan.

    Another example is Warren Gatland, who also started coaching full-time 31 years ago, after 5 years as a player-coach. Gatland did pretty well everywhere he went until 2020 (when he was 56), when he did a relatively poor job with the Chiefs, before doing a pretty poor job with the Lions, and then overseeing a genuine disaster with Wales. There are very few other examples, as most coaches retire or step back into lesser roles when they enter their 60s. Mick Byrne actually has 34 years experience in coaching (but only 23 years coaching in rugby) and at 66 he’s the oldest coach of a top 10 side, and he’s actually doing really well. He goes to show that you can continue to be a good coach well into your 60s, but he seems like an outlier.


    So the point is - right now, Les Kiss looks like a pretty reliable option, but 5 years ago so did Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland before they went on to prove that coaches often decline as they get older. If Australia want Kiss as a short term appointment to take over after Schmidt leaves in the summer, I don’t think that would be a terrible idea - but NB wanted Kiss as a long term appointment starting in 2027! That’s a massive risk, given the chance that his aptitude will begin to decline.


    Its kind of analagous to how players decline. We know (for example) that a fly-half can still be world class at 38, but we also know that most fly-halves peak in their mid-to-late 20s, so it is generally considered a risk to build your game plan around someone much older than that.

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    My name is Alan Criner, and I'm a resident of Toronto, CA. I'm a 45-year-old financial analyst who has always been cautious with my investments. However, in my quest to diversify my portfolio, I fell prey to a devastating fake crypto investment scam, losing 125,000 Canadian dollars' worth of Bitcoin. This traumatic experience sent my life into a downward spiral, leaving me depressed and feeling hopeless.

    Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

    Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

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    NB 3 hours ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    https://www.london.edu/think/how-claudio-ranieri-transformed-leicester-city


    He jts knew how to use that deep well of knowledge accumulate over many years of management. A true Moneyball story!

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    fl 3 hours ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    “Two comparable achievements 15 years apart (at different clubs in different leagues) represent failure and not continued success for an elite level coach/manager? Not even a hint of consistency? Just gradual, inevitable decline? And all because he is in his sixth decade?”

    Why don’t you try reading what I wrote before you start inventing a load of other random things that I didn’t say. I said “Pep hasn’t gotten better with age”. He hasn’t. I don’t think he’s got much worse, and yeah, he’s been fairly consistent over his career and has had more success than almost any other coach. But he hasn’t gotten better.


    “You’ve missed that Mourinho’s early start in football was as a translator for Bobby Robson (ironically a much older manager at the time!).”

    I was actually aware of that. I didn’t mention it because it wasn’t relevant to the fact that Mourinho - aged 52 - had more experience than Arteta does at 43. It also isn’t ironic that Bobby Robson was a much older manager at the time - it actually confirms by point that a lot of the top football managers used to be older than they are today.


    “You suggested that Les Kiss would not be suited to an international coaching role because of his age profile…that seemed to relate to rugby”

    That did relate to rugby. Let me walk you through the thread…


    NB suggested that Les Kiss should become Australia head coach in 2027.

    I said: “Given the drop off so many top coaches seem to experience as they get older (e.g. Jones, Gatland) Kiss could be a riskier appointment than you’d think!”

    NB said: “Drawing a parallel with the NFL and NBA, plenty of coaches stay well into their 70’s”

    I said: “Not all sports are going the same way though” then gave the example of football.


    The example of football was introduced in order to make the point that the age profile of managers is not the same in every sport. If you had read the thread you were replying to you would know this!

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