WATCH: Two-minute long haka from New Zealand U20s receives social media backlash

Adam Kyriacou
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New Zealand U20 perform haka

New Zealand’s haka before their opening World Rugby U20 Championship pool fixture against Wales on Saturday has come under fire.

The challenge thrown down to the Welsh was a highly charged one from the Baby Blacks, who eventually won a tight match 27-26 at Paarl Gymnasium.

New Zealand‘s haka after the anthems was led by Codemeru Vai and Malakai Hala and kept the supporters and spectators gripped before kick-off.

However, several have questioned the length of the war dance, which ran over two minutes, as social media gave its reaction.

“It’s become a joke. More like a west end production than a cultural ritual,” read a reply from Darrell Hughes to the World Rugby tweet on Monday.

Mark D seemed to agree, as he tweeted: “I enjoy watching the Haka but this is too long and also didn’t help New Zealand as they went 19-5 down.”

Indeed, it was a tough start to the pool fixture for New Zealand as they were 14 points adrift of Wales before pulling it back to win by one point.

Caleb Tangitau, Macca Springer, Sam Hainsworth-Fa’aofo and Che Clark claimed tries, with Taha Kemara and Harry Godfrey kicking the extras.

But much of the talk after the game surrounded the haka and while it did receive a couple of positive replies on Twitter, the majority were critical.

“A bit long… they must have been worn out by kick-off time,” said Kevin as several people centred on the haka’s length.

“Why was it 2 minutes long? The opposition had to stand there all that time getting cold. Just get on with it and play rugby,” said Richard Kennedy.

On the flipside, one tweeter summed up the haka with one word. “Electrifying,” wrote Storm, who was clearly a supporter of the pre-game theatre.

New Zealand’s next game at the tournament will come on Thursday when they take on France, who hammered Japan 75-12 in their opening match.

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