Haka-happy Tipoki delighted to turn the tables on All Blacks
Last night in Thomond Park, however, the All-Blacks had done to them what they do as a matter of routine to others.
Just before they got set, the four Munster Kiwis, Doug Howlett, Lifeimi Mafi, Jeremy Manning and Rua Tipoki stepped forward, assumed the pose.
On what was already a special evening, this was the moment that really set the night on fire.
The inspiration? Tipoki explains. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I suppose. As a Kiwi kid you grow up dreaming that one day you’ll play for the All-Blacks, do the Haka. We wanted to represent our team but at the same time we were wary of upsetting people.
“We know that Munster already have such culture and tradition, we didn’t want to come here and impose our stamp on them. But, people who have supported Munster for years, people who have played for Munster, this was something that everyone we spoke to wanted us to do.
“We did it on behalf of our teammates, on behalf of everyone who went before us — it was a special moment in my career, I’ll always remember it.”
For days he would have been building to this moment, but, what was going through his mind as he stepped forward?
“The crowd just went mental, didn’t they? Mafi missed the jump at the start, ‘cos none of us could hear each other. The adrenaline was pumping, we were just trying to keep together.”
The reaction shook the new stadium to its old foundations, but then came the All-Blacks, and in typical Thomond fashion, total respect offered, a round of applause afterwards. Rightly so, said Rua, for whom, as a proud Maori, such rituals are spiritual, special: “They did an awesome Haka, awesome.”
On the night, however, it was his new team, his new province, his new country, that most touched the man from the south. You want raw emotion? You should have been in this room after that match, hear this guy speak of his new home.
“I was just so proud to be a Munsterman, even before today — I can feel myself getting a bit emotional now at that question.
“Obviously we had a lot of players who weren’t available tonight but we said it in the dressing-room before we went out, we wouldn’t trade places with anyone who was in those shirts.
“Going out there we were going to be soldiers for each other, and no matter what, we were going to go to the wall for each other.”
That they didn’t create their own slice of history, well, cruel misfortune. They did, however, manage to do something that no other team has done to New Zealand so far on this trip — cross the whitewash.
“The play was to go to the left, Dougie Howlett was to punch through the middle, but if they screwed the scrum the other way Peter Stringer and Barry Murphy were to go for it on that side.
“I think it’s fitting that Peter, one of Munster’s great servants, a guy who has gone through such tough times lately, had such a major hand in a special moment.”
Overall, disappointed? “No, I’m not disappointed, because of the way the boys played; we fronted up, that’s the way it was supposed to be.”
As for coach Tony McGahan, what he said was probably being repeated in every pub and hostelry in Munster last night, except, perhaps, for his final thoughts.
“I’m disappointed with the result but extremely proud of the players, the effort they put in was absolutely outstanding,” he said.
“The game goes in ebbs and flows, but the back end of that game you could see how tired the boys were, tearing across the backline there, the cramps they were getting.
“You were looking for the close decisions to go your way but it wasn’t happening; the crowd was behind us, there’s a massive upset in the balance, I think you can be influenced by all that, but if you watch it afterwards, I think all those things even themselves out. It would have been nice to get them, we didn’t, and the scoreline sits.”
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