The All Blacks captain, Scott Barrett, has warned England that Joe Marler has “loaded the gun” with his haka jibe before Saturday’s autumn internationals kick-off at Twickenham.
Marler posted on social media on Tuesday that the haka is “ridiculous” and “it needs binning” before rowing back and apologising for his “shithouse” comments on Thursday night. The England captain, Jamie George, distanced himself from Marler’s views, insisting he loves the All Blacks’ traditional war dance but revealed his side were considering a respectful response.
England have not beaten New Zealand at Twickenham since 2012 and asked if Marler had written his team talk for him, Barrett said: “He has probably loaded the gun hasn’t he? I guess there are always opinions about the haka and its place. It is hugely important to us and has been to the All Blacks for a long time, we get a lot from it.
“I think it’s been a huge part of the All Blacks, it’s bigger than rugby in a sense. You speak to people from America and lesser known rugby nations and they know rugby in New Zealand for the haka, so it is huge for us and unites us, in the words of the haka.
“In those moments, whatever the team brings, you face you love it; if they walk forward it means they are up for the first whistle. If that happens, we know we are in for a good Test match. We don’t need any extra motivation heading to Twickenham against a team that would desperately love to beat us so we have got to respect what is coming.”
Meanwhile, George has called his teammates to cast off their inhibitions and show supporters their passion as the Rugby Football Union struggles to sell out all four of the autumn Tests at Twickenham.
England take to Twickenham for just the third time in 16 matches but as of Friday afternoon, tickets were still available for all four home autumn Tests with Australia, South Africa and Japan this month. Just over 130 were unsold for the All Blacks clash while around 3,000 were available for the Wallabies fixture and 5,000 for the match against Japan. The Springboks clash is almost at capacity and is expected to sell out.
Some tickets for the All Blacks fixture cost £229 but slow sales will be of concern to the RFU. George has made it one of his priorities to re-engage with supporters since his appointment as England captain and revealed conversations with RFU staff as to how to improve the match-day experience are ongoing.
England will take a different route on their walk from the team bus to the dressing room in an effort to interact with more supporters and George has urged his side to demonstrate their emotions when they lock horns with New Zealand.
George said: “The emotional side is often something that I’m speaking to the boys about, telling them: ‘Don’t be afraid to show it. Don’t be afraid to show how much it means to play for England.’ Sometimes there are natural reservations, you’re on TV and can’t give too much away. For me, that is an instant connection. As a fan, I wanted to see a reflection of myself in that England rugby team, and enjoyment, passion and pride is something I always relate to.
“What I hope is that the fans on Saturday coming to the game or watching in the pub are aware of how far we’ve come, how much it means. We’re out there representing the whole country and that is something we have spoken about this week, and as long as I am involved in this team I want people to be very aware of that.”
