The defiant stare is the way to go, dignified & subtle the best way to accept the ultimate challenge...Yep, if you haven't got a Haka of your own then just front up. The defiant stare appears to work well for the Lions. It looks good; sends a message back and is the most appropriate response.
Rumour has it the Lions will sing a medley of the 4 songs they've been practicing while the All Blacks perform the Haka. Thoughts?
What are we going to sing "Kumbaya, My Lord" or something?
Still, if we can sing badly enough we may just take the fight out of the all blacks.
They've been having choir practice for Jerusalem, Fields of anthenry, Calon Lan and that proclaimers song about walking.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/in...captain-john-eales-learns-haka-in-documentaryIs this a windup? Sing what exactly? Oggie oggie oggie?
I think the appropriate response would be to stand as far away as possible from the ABs - like under the goal posts in a huddle - not paying any attention - and let the opposition do their dance....
Staring them down looks equally daft IMHO. I say pay no attention. Get in a team huddle and chat about how you want to mash these f3ckers.... If I was captain, I'd be thinking along these lines.
I know, right.If it's the 'Kamate' haka then all they need to do is learn the translation, it makes all the actions seem just a little bit funny!
They've been having choir practice for Jerusalem, Fields of anthenry, Calon Lan and that proclaimers song about walking.
I've always been a fan of generally doing your own warm-up routines in the 22, or, for England / GB&I a nice condescending round of applause with a few "jolly well done what?"s thrown in, or maybe a 3 cheers.This will definitely go down well.
I still believe that a longbow volley, or a light cavalry charge, is the best response. If we take a few of them out then it might limit the amount of tries we concede.
I've always been a fan of generally doing your own warm-up routines in the 22, or, for England / GB&I a nice condescending round of applause with a few "jolly well done what?"s thrown in, or maybe a 3 cheers.
TBH though, I love the Haka as a piece of theatre, and adore seeing it when the various PI nations play each other and have a Haka-off, which really should be simultaneous, not stage-managed. What I dislike about the Haka is that there's not really any way (for a non-Haka nation) of respecting and accepting the challenge that doesn't cause offence - other than passively standing there. Hell 12 years ago we spoke to Maori elders, and followed their recommendations, and offended the entire nation for being disrespectful.
Facing up to it causes offence; having a stare-off causes offence; responding in kind causes offence; singing causes offence; ignoring it causes offence; following the advice of Maori elders causes offence. I've reached the point of thinking "**** it, we're going to cause offence whatever we do, so let's do so on our own terms!"