England captain Jamie George has responded after ‘loud mouth’ Joe Marler called for the haka to be scrapped, insisting he ‘loves’ the cultural tradition and the added ‘theatre’ that it brings to rugby union.
Marler’s controversial comments came on the back of an incident in rugby league involving England’s Mikey Lewis and Gordon Chan Kum Tong, which saw the two players butt heads during Samoa’s version of the haka, called the Siva Tau.
Opposition players are usually inclined to keep a distance and respect the ceremonial dances of New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji prior to matches and Lewis’ reaction proved contentious among supporters of both league and union.
Marler, capped 95 times by England’s rugby union team, was unequivocal with his response, though, demanding the ‘ridiculous’ tradition was ‘binned’ ahead of this weekend’s eagerly anticipated clash with the All Blacks at Twickenham.
‘The haka needs binning. It’s ridiculous,’ the veteran England prop wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
‘It’s only any good when teams actually front it with some sort of reply. Like the league boys did last week.’
In a later post, Marler added: ‘Context is everything. Just having a bit of fun trying to spark interest in a mega rugby fixture. Some wild responses. Big Love.’
Speaking to Sky Sports about Marler’s comments, England skipper George stressed that he ‘certainly’ didn’t agree given he was a ‘massive fan’ of the haka and had been since childhood.
‘I’m just really grateful to Joe and his loud mouth on social media, it’s fantastic. That’s been the stem of the questions from the media this week,’ the England and Saracens hooker said.
‘Joe and I don’t always agree on everything and we certainly don’t agree on this. I’m a massive fan of the haka.’
‘Growing up a huge rugby fan, I loved it when I was growing up, I’ve loved the opportunity to face it, I love the theatre that it brings, I love the reaction from the fans. I’m a massive fan.’
Asked whether opponents had the right to respond, George replied: ‘I think as long as it’s done in a respectful way.
‘I think that’s something that adds to the theatre and the spectacle of it all.
‘It’s a challenge that’s been laid down. How you respond to it I think it then up to you, as long as you do it in the right way.’
England assistant coach Kevin Sinfield echoed George’s comments about the tradition, telling Sky Sports: ‘I love the haka. I was fortunate enough to face it as a player and fortunate enough in the summer to face it as a coach.
‘I think it’s a brilliant part of rugby, a brilliant part of professional sport. People like to see it and it represents their culture.
‘It adds a bit more to the game on Saturday. I’m sure it will be a special haka this weekend, I’m, sure the support at the Allianz Stadium will get right behind the haka when it happens.
‘It’s great for our players to experience this so I’m all for it.’
On players having the right to respond to the challenge, Sinfield added: ‘I think there’s some laws in place and rightly so.
‘I don’t think what happened in rugby league is normal. I did see the clips from last week and I don’t think that’s a typical response to a haka.
‘I know there have been occasions where similar events have happened but I think we’re quite respectful as a nation and we should continue to be so.’
Sinfield is ‘really looking forward’ to seeing how England’s players step up to the challenge that awaits them against New Zealand, currently sitting third on the World Rugby rankings.
‘Really looking forward to it. I think we’ve had a really good build up, we had a week in Spain last week,’ he went on.
‘Camp has been good this week and we’ve got a great playing group who, having had the two weeks together, have continued on the path we were on in the summer.
‘I don’t think it gets any bigger than this, does it? Playing New Zealand at home.
‘It seems like ages ago since we played at home as well, in front of our home supporters, so I think we’re all really looking forward to that.’
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