Australia explain the meaning behind unique boomerang response to the All Blacks’ haka
Australia offering a boomerang to New Zealand during the haka.
Quade Cooper has revealed the reason why the Wallabies handed a boomerang to the All Blacks before the first Bledisloe Cup clash.
In previous games between the two sides, Australia have sometimes responded with a boomerang shape, but this time they decided to do it slightly differently.
As New Zealand were performing ‘Kapa o Pango’, Wallabies skipper Allan Alaalatoa decided to cross the halfway line and place the object down before returning to his team-mates.
After the war dance had been completed, All Blacks captain for the day Ardie Savea went up to the boomerang and accepted the gift which the commentators called “a significant gesture”.
Identity
“Both teams, there’s the ultimate respect between each other, especially between the players as people, as men,” Cooper told reporters.
“And for us, we look at the haka and it’s the cultural side of it but also us showing respect to that. So we understand the identity behind the All Blacks and the haka. And we have our own little identity as well.
“There’s players in our team from all over the world. Australia is a place of immense diversity. So having the ultimate respect for that is what we’re trying to achieve there. And, you know, we saw with Ardie picking up the boomerang and showing his receive respect from us and then we get into the game and we try and rip each other apart. So that’s more the reasoning behind it.
“There wasn’t too much chat around it. We don’t want to make a big spectacle out of it. It’s not something that we sit here in meetings mulling over. We’re showing respect and vice versa.”
Cooper was born and raised in New Zealand before he moved to Australia at the age of 13. He ended up representing the Wallabies and will earn his 80th cap in this weekend’s second Bledisloe Cup match.
New captain’s response
He will be partnered at half-back by Tate McDermott, who will also captain the side in the absence of the injured Alaalatoa.
McDermott was therefore asked the question by Stan Sport as to whether he would be doing something special for this weekend’s reverse fixture, but he responded: “Mate, there won’t be too much there from my end.
“The boomerang last week was just a respect thing. We were obviously in the indigenous strip and it was kind of a ‘welcome to our country’.
“So this weekend again in Dunedin, yeah, I don’t think I’ll be presenting that boomerang. But we’ll be there connected as we always are.”
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