As many of you will know, when you fly abroad the ground staff often give you a little wave or nod that says ‘have a good one’ just as the plane is shunted back and taxied to the runway. It is a polite and unassuming gesture that some may not even notice, however earlier this week when the Air New Zealand ground staff bade farewell to their national side they did so with the ultimate mark of respect; a full haka.
Of course other nations have their own traditional war dances however, with respect, the Māori haka performed by the All Blacks is the most iconic and recognised by fans and players alike. This is why their partner AIG have chosen to develop a way to bring individuals, like you and I, as close to the haka as possible with their 360 haka Experience. Now, normally I shy away from 3d programmes and virtual reality after a very bad experience when I was a child on Honey I Shrunk The Kids at Disney, it haunts me to this day (!) however the haka is more my scene and I was intrigued to see just how good this could be.
The experience itself was filmed at this year’s Rugby Championship match against Argentina and the camera work and technology combined gives you the most phenomenal angles and vantage points both before and during the haka. Of course you do feel a little stupid with the headset on however it does add to the experience as you are enclosed in the action and moving your head around to gain different angles. Personally I have no idea how AIG have put this together however if you are in and round London during the tournament then I wholeheartedly recommend a trip to the South Bank to AIG’s Touchline to experience this. On a similar note, if you are feeling a little touristy whilst there then may I also suggest a visit to the London Eye, for it has had it’s own Rugby World Cup makeover and looks superb.
On launching ‘haka 360’ Sean Fitzpatrick shared a few of his experiences and something I didn’t know was that prior to the 1987 Rugby World Cup the haka hadn’t been performed on New Zealand soil before, it was only used when the team toured. He openly admitted that performing the haka was the most intimidating thing about his first cap and amusingly in 1995 he found his former team mate, Andrew Mertens, practising the haka in the showers two minutes before they were due to run out!
A man that will be experiencing his first Rugby World Cup is Sam Cane and as we sat down in the corner of AIG’s Touchline his enthusiasm and happiness at being part to this tournament came across in spades. Sam’s previous Rugby World Cup experience, back in 2011, was a little different to the one that now lies ahead of him;
“I played for the New Zealand U20s that year and was was nominated for the Junior Player of the Year and it was lucky that it was the same year as the Rugby World Cup and everyone that was nominated for an award that year were put up in Auckland and got given tickets to the Final and the Third Place Playoff.”
“It is sinking in for sure, for the last couple of years the talk about the tournament and the hype has started to increase. But as a player you don’t even allow yourself to think about it and get too excited because so much can happen, injuries, selection, form all sorts of things so it is not until you get handed your ticket that you think wow we are actually going!”
Sam’s words ‘we’d be silly to come all this way and not enjoy it' are encouraging to hear. Of course the pressure on every team is great, especially on the World leaders, however a Rugby World Cup should be a special experience and one that is fully absorbed by those performing.
The All Blacks may have only landed a short time earlier however all looked cool, calm and collected. They are ‘pretty excited to get out there and play some rugby again’ as it has been few weeks since their final run out and their first opponents are a known entity; Argentina. With respect to Tonga, Georgia and Namibia, this opening pool fixture will be their most challenging, the choice of haka will be down to Richie & Keven Mealamu and regardless of which is chosen it will be the ultimate precursor to the action and ignite Wembley Stadium.
Sean Fitzpatrick and Sam Cane were speaking on behalf of AIG, the Official Insurance Partner of New Zealand Rugby. AIG is bring fans closer to the All Blacks’ haka than ever before. Take the challenge at AIG.com/Haka360
