The purpose of the visit wasn't to reshape the haka per se, but for the players, particularly the younger ones, to understand and connect better with a ritual that has come to define the All Blacks.
It may be an unusual word to use in high-performance sport, but what the All Blacks were really doing on the marae was trying to find their spirituality. The paradigm of body and mind needs the spirit to be complete and the All Blacks take this seriously.
"We want to make better people out of these players," says All Blacks manager Darren Shand.
"We want them to be grateful and humble - all those good virtues. Secondly within the haka there is a spiritual element to all of that which has probably helped us take the haka from where it was in 2004 to where it is now. There is greater meaning, greater understanding now than there was back then.
"For a lot of the boys there is probably a spiritual connection to it. They talk about the whole spirit, mind and body paradigm. As staff we are conscious of all those elements.
"We definitely work on the body - looking to be bigger, stronger, faster. The mind - we definitely work on that and I think you need an element of spirit and sometimes I think that is about the environment that you live and operate in. It's about togetherness, fun and brotherhood."
Shand's reference to 2004 is because that was the year the All Blacks put the haka under most scrutiny.
They felt they were doing it without meaning or passion and that if they were going to persevere with it, it had to be with purpose.
And so began a process of education to deepen the understanding of why it was performed and what the players could give to it and take from it.
That same review took place ahead of the World Cup, albeit on a smaller scale.
But it was decided that some of the newer players would benefit from deepening their understanding of the haka and start asking why they do it and what it means to them.
Malakai Fekitoa, who made his debut last year, was one who relished the marae visit. The Tongan-born Fekitoa is an active church-goer and a devout believer.
He finds his spirituality through praying and worshipping and tries to connect his faith to the All Blacks jersey.
But he says he'd also like to be able to better channel his emotions through the haka - to take more from it in terms of mentally and spiritually preparing himself to play.
"It wasn't until after I had played about four or five games that I started to do it [haka] with passion and also do it instead of following. I would like to learn more about it.
"It gives me that warm feeling in my heart. It is hard to explain but I do feel a connection with it. Now when I do it, I am ready to play."
What's possibly most interesting is why the All Blacks think spirituality is important. It's more than completing the paradigm for the individuals.
Research tells them that the deeper the emotional connection individuals hold with the team they play for, the more likely it is they will be successful. It's professional sport and players switch allegiance all the time with no sense of obviously holding anything back.
But drill deep into the detail and it's indisputable - the heart has to be as committed.
This is something the All Blacks don't want to leave to chance - just assume that all their players know and understand what being an All Black means.
In the process of dissecting the haka in 2004, the All Blacks challenged their sense of nationality. There had always been cliched talk about pride in the jersey, but what did the jersey mean to everyone?
These same questions arose internally because everyone agreed that how they feel about being All Blacks and what they believe they are representing are critical parts of their World Cup armoury.
"To emotionally connect with it I think back to all the hard work that has been put into it to get where we are today," says young halfback TJ Perenara.
"All the work we put into being better each day. I enjoy competing and I ultimately enjoy winning so putting all the hard work into it is a big thing that drives me - knowing the sacrifices I have made."
That's what the All Blacks want to do at this World Cup - for players to draw emotional strength from the haka and prepare their minds and bodies for the battle that lies ahead.
If being an All Black can be a spiritual experience, it has the potential to lift them to a level beyond other teams.
The All Blacks' arrowhead formation was part of a refocus on the haka and what it means. Photo / Getty Images
The reality of high-performance sport these days is that every team can read the manuals, hire the help and build their players and game plan to a level that makes them dangerous.
Intellectual property is nearly impossible to protect in a professional market that sees players and coaches lured around the world.
Japan's victory against the Springboks demonstrated that nothing in the game is improbable now and management and coaching teams spend most of their time assessing where they can make infinitesimal gains.
It's a process the All Blacks constantly do - look at their four key pillars of physical, tactical, technical and psychological to see what they could do better.
Ahead of coming to the World Cup the coaching team put everything under the spotlight and it was the psychological column where they saw the possibility of making the most gains.
