Sport, show business and ethnic culture seamlessly blend in New Zealand's favourite sport, rugby, with the haka preceding every test match. They decided that due to the old haka being mired in copyright disputes with the composing Maori tribe, the All Blacks should make their own one, and it was duly premiered last weekend. You can see the video or read the "lyrics" if you missed it.
As a spectacle I preferred the old one, easy to mimic in your own bedroom or plasma screen den. The new version looked slightly pathetic, although All Blacks on their knees is nothing to be sniffed at. I guess it serves a pumping up function to get the adrenaline glands going, and it certainly beats those horrendous group hugs other teams inflict on each other, but it was all a bit too theatrical and showbizzy for my taste (I'm such a bad showtunes queen!). Swapping jerseys at the end of the match and rubbing noses - with a chance of rubbing nipples - is a far more exciting tradition in my book.
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