All Blacks respond to English fine: 'They're a pretty wealthy union so they can take the hit'
Dane Coles raised his hand for the best one liner of the World Cup by bluntly assessing how England’s wealthy players will have no worries paying their fine for encroaching too far towards the haka.
World Rugby handed England a four-figure fine after several players – England prop Joe Marler the most prominent – pushed well beyond halfway as they split into a v-shaped formation to oppose the haka prior to their semifinal victory over the All Blacks in Yokohama last week.
Coles can always be relied on to deliver refreshing honesty, and he again stepped up when asked for his view of England’s punishment.
“They earn a shitload of money so they’ll be able to pay the fine,” Coles said with a chuckle. “They’re a pretty wealthy union so they can take the hit.
“I thought it was awesome, that’s what the haka is about, it’s a challenge. They walked forward. I know all the boys were pumped for it we were looking around like ‘let’s go’.
“From an All Blacks perspective we didn’t think it was bad. We thought it was awesome.”
World Rugby have been accused of hypocrisy after labelling England’s response to the haka “incredible” on their social media channels, only to then turn around and fine the team.
Coles was more than happy for other teams to respond in similar fashion in future.
“Yeah, if they’re willing to pay the fine. Teams always do different things. We had no qualms with it they were accepting it. It’s a bigger matter than for us.”
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Coles, the All Blacks and Hurricanes hooker was, however, indifferent about whether the response gave England a psychological edge by allowing them to start so well and score within the first two minutes.
“It’s probably easy to say that from the way the game panned out and they got the win. Not necessarily. With the haka we give it everything we’ve got then we come in and the haka is gone. We take a moment to take a breath and get everyone back on task. No one is going to win a game because they walk forward or because of how powerful the haka was.
“It’s about what happens on that rugby pitch for 80 minutes. Personally I don’t think it gave them an extra edge but hindsight is a beautiful thing isn’t it?”
Globally the haka is often misunderstood or misrepresented, primarily due to the lack of understanding around its many purposes within New Zealand culture.
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Coles made it clear the All Blacks were aware of the regular critical feedback.
“It’s every year something seems to be said. It’s part of who we are as New Zealanders, it’s an identity thing. When people pay us out and say we shouldn’t be doing it they don’t understand the history of the haka, the history of the All Blacks and the history of New Zealand.
“We love doing it and I wish people would understand that. Even people at home give us stick about the haka. We can’t control what people think and people say but it ain’t going anywhere.
“If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. It means a helluva lot to the All Blacks team.”
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All Blacks coach Steve Hansen echoed Coles’ view around England’s formation which emulated France’s response in the 2011 World Cup final at Eden Park.
“I thought their response was fantastic,” Hansen said. “They didn’t get fined for responding for doing what they did, they got fined because they went over halfway. Everyone knows you’re not allowed to come over the halfway.
“You’ve got to get reality here. Joe didn’t go back when he got told two or three times. I thought the response was brilliant.
“If you understand the haka, the haka requires a response. It’s a challenge to you personally and it requires you to have a response. I thought it was brilliant, quite imaginative too.”
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.
It may not be a double standard, but RugbyX’s tie-breaker is still deeply unfair:
Comments on RugbyPass
Havili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
61 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to comments