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Welsh rugby administrators have been criticised as "buffoons" and the All Blacks as bullies in a continuing row over the off-field haka at Cardiff.
The All Blacks performed the haka in their own company under the stands at the Millennium Stadium yesterday before beating Wales 45-10.
They had rebuffed a Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) directive to perform the haka before the Welsh sang their national anthem ahead of the match.
"Only politicians could get this sort of thing so utterly wrong," wrote Brian Moore, a former England hooker who is now a newspaper columnist, in The Telegraph.
"Whoever was responsible, they are pedantic buffoons".
He said the WRU's attempt to insist the Welsh anthem was sung last, after the haka "seemed like chanting 'Blah, blah, my dad's harder than yours'," he said .
The haka was a genuine moment of theatre in sport -- of which there were too few -- not a contrived, perverted product of some marketing executive.
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Moore said a historical challenge, with meaning and menace, was a privilege to face and inspirational for players on both sides.
"If I were a Kiwi, this spat would have enraged me," he said.
"Wales had enough on their plate without adding motivation to comfortably the best team in the world".
Elsewhere in the Telegraph's sport pages, sports writer Brendan Gallagher criticised the All Blacks for reverting to a "bullying stereotype".
"Their decision to deny the Cardiff crowd -- including thousands of New Zealand supporters -- a sight of the traditional pre-match haka was hugely unpopular," he said.
"It was an action unworthy of such a magnificent side and a sour note on which to end such a successful tour".
He said the haka used to be "a bit of fun" with grizzly All Blacks laughing at what then seemed an absurdity, and during the 1972-73 All Black of Britain, the players only performed it once during 26 games.
"It has now morphed into a strong political statement. Now, it has become something it never was and afforded a mystical status it never possessed."
Gallagher said the haka provided a photo opportunity for sponsors, and gave the All Blacks a chance to hurl "rancid abuse" at the opposition, and make provocative gestures that would earn a yellow card if used during a game.
The Guardian reported the International Rugby Board had said the protocol for next year's World Cup was already set.
"The countries that traditionally perform a haka -- Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand -- will be allowed to do so after the anthems," its communications manager, Greg Thomas, said.
"If Wales want to raise the subject with the Rugby World Cup board they are free to do so, but what happens in a friendly is up to the two countries involved."
- NZPA
