The Junior Kangaroos went nose-to-nose with the Junior Kiwis over the weekend in one of the most heated hakas we’ve ever seen.
The Junior Kiwis went on to win the game 15-14 against the ‘Roos, but the biggest talking point following the match focused on what happened before the game even kicked-off.
At the start of the Haka the Australians moved towards the halfway line and stood their ground in front of the New Zealanders, even though the Kiwis had yet to move forward with their traditional war dance. It didn’t take long before the two sides were right up in each others’ faces and some of the players were literally going nose-to-nose.
Speaking to Stuff.co.nz about the heated incident, Kiwis coach Brent Gemmell said: “I think there should be a protocol moving forward that there should be a 5m line either side of that (halfway) and both teams don’t pass through that… leave a 10m gap and everyone gets on with the game.”
“I saw (the Australian team) link arms and walk up to the (halfway) line and over it and I said to the Australians there is some protocol here and this could turn quite bad because I knew our haka was still to advance.”
Fortunately, the incident boiled down to nothing more than a bit of handbags, but it did remind us of a certain U-20 Irish international side from a few years ago…
Look at all those fresh baby-faces (and listen out for that disapproving commentary).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hlXMapfYXs
