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"Silly dance" ?? bit harsh there Ark, it's part of rugby DNA, the kiwi's and the pacific islanders have done that type of "dance" for centuries when going into battle, silly dance might better describe the contrived BS by a certain former Sydney based footballer to attract attention to himself.

Freezin wrote: In my element here this weekend it's been a beauty.....rugby league wins by the Aussie men and women over their NZ opponents....ABs arses kicked by the poms....now the netball today....few quiet kiwis this weekend.....they will be in mourning for a few months I reckon.....LOL

DD Breakers coughed up a decent lead v Melbourne the other night too....just keeps getting better and better....but hey for a little country they punch well above their weight .....or so am I told 24/7....

Haha yes the ol Kiwi claim "we punch well above our weight" have heard it a million times Freeze and for sports like cricket yep will give them their dues but gee in the case of rugby union the Kiwis would have more players than countries like Australia (where the whole squad comes out of Sydney/Brisbane private schools), Wales, Scotland, Ireland etc where rugby union is not even close to their main football code!

In top flight Rugby there are only 2 countries who can claim it as their number 1 winter code - New Zealand and South Africa. Of the other 6 quarter finalists it is at best the second sport and with quite a few even 3rd, 4th or 5th.
Be interesting to know the amount of juniors playing at all ages in NZ and South Africa compared with the rest.

ooli: correct: in NZ, of course they do play some rugby league, precisely because some of the Mari view it as anti-establishment; but, as you say in relation to South Africa, having spoken to a few Africans over the years, they suggested that league was totally unheard of in their country.

Bit harsh there Ark on the silly dance routine mate....I guess atleast NZ has embraced its indigenous roots more so than Australia has....don't mind the haka..it is what it is...part of NZ life...my kids had to do it at school 2-3 times a week, as well as sing the NZ national anthem in English and Maori....Bit too cult like for my liking....but good way to release a bit of steam by poking out ones tongue, making facial expressions, beating ones chest and stamping your feet...done before every rugby match regardless if u/8s or the ABs

.opposition side just need to get culturally creative in dismissing it to piss the Kiwis off.....Eng with their V formation got a few Kiwi backs up....whilst France a few years back with their arrow formation wound up a few Kiwis.....surely someone out there has an idea to be subtlety culturally insensitive to piss the Kiwis off when they do their "silly dance"

AR soccer is apparently pretty big in South Africa as well.
Really outside of NZ, possibly SA and the minnow Pacific Island countries rugby is the 2nd, 3rd or 4th football code in virtually every country sheesh it could be argued even Gaelic footy or NFL is more popular in Oz these days than the ol School tie rugger!!

Freezin: agreed mate, it was a good response it shook the NZs up, remember they conceded an early try. As you know better than I Freezin, some locals are opposed to the haka and it has certainly never been used throughout their test history.

The great thing is that some people in NZ and the rest of the Commonwealth would have known the historical importance of V in England and dare I say, Freezin, in Anglo- NZ history. Some of those rugby union toffs are quite well educated.

It is a war dance designed to intimidate the opposition and should be seen as such.

Bease-- you are right on the blacks in South Africa regarding their love of soccer. RU is an English game played and loved by the Boers, whom have a population of about two million.

I never watch Australia's games -- their jumpers are ugly, and as you said, it is a toff's game from Sydney.
and I have avoided the competition until the finals.

number of wcs

NZ 3
SA 2
A 2
E 1

The NZ and their haka have not been as dominate as they would like to think at least in the wc. We need to be a bit careful though, because, from memory, NZ refused to attend the competition in 1991?

ArkRoyal wrote: Bease-- you are right on the blacks in South Africa regarding their love of soccer. RU is an English game played and loved by the Boers, whom have a population of about two million.

I never watch Australia's games -- their jumpers are ugly, and as you said, it is a toff's game from Sydney.
and I have avoided the competition until the finals.

Spot on AR just a toffs game over here largely for Sydneysider ol school ties.
I have tried many a time to explain the above to some Kiwi “friends” that 99% of our population couldn’t give a rats toss bag about rugger over here but it fell on deaf ears as they (Kiwis) are not the brightest lot at times!

ArkRoyal wrote: Bease-- you are right on the blacks in South Africa regarding their love of soccer. RU is an English game played and loved by the Boers, whom have a population of about two million.

I never watch Australia's games -- their jumpers are ugly, and as you said, it is a toff's game from Sydney.
and I have avoided the competition until the finals.

number of wcs

NZ 3
SA 2
A 2
E 1

The NZ and their haka have not been as dominate as they would like to think at least in the wc. We need to be a bit careful though, because, from memory, NZ refused to attend the competition in 1991?

All blacks did well to refuse to attend the 91 WC and also make the semi final - losing to the eventual winner Australia. Probably put off by the Wallabies ugly strip.