Research finds players who perform war dances reach elevated heart rates before their rivals. Is it an unsporting advantage?Should the Haka be scrapped from rugby? Let’s ask a different, less inflammatory question. If the New Zealand Haka and equivalents like the Fijian Cibi and the Tonga Sipi Tau provides an unfair advantage to those teams that perform it before kick off, should there be a limit on when and where those teams can do so?Research conducted this year at the University of Queensland’s School of Human Movement found that players who performed these war dances reached elevated heart rate levels moments before the start of the match. Those squats and lunges are the equivalent of undergoing a warm-up while the...
Australia had a spring in their step in Sydney but walked away with one of the more woeful implosions of recent yearsThe Wallabies’ trajectory this year has been, like their namesake, steadfastly up and down. Every ascent – the courageous 14-man win in Perth against England, the pounding of the Pumas in Mendoza, the demolition of South Africa in Adelaide – has been followed by a thud, as they come back to earth the following Test with a crushing defeat after a glorious victory.The inconsistency is infuriating for fans who crave momentum and want to see progress heading to next year’s World Cup on 8 September – now 12 Tests and 12 months away. But the Wallabies have not won...
Beat the world champions again this week and the Bledisloe Cup is looking good against an out-of-sorts All Blacks outfitOut-muscled by England last month and out-coached by Argentina a fortnight ago, the Wallabies restored pride in the old gold jersey at the weekend, rebounding from their recent 48-17 shellacking in San Juan to whip the world champion Springboks 25-17 in Adelaide. With Los Pumas upsetting the All Blacks 25-18 in Christchurch, Australia’s window to the Rugby Championship and a first Bledisloe Cup in two decades remains tantalisingly ajar.Hope can be a dangerous thing for Wallabies fans. But Saturday’s performance instilled it. After losing the first 25 minutes of their last five starts, Australia began well for a change, racing to...
Half a dozen sides will fancy their chances in 2023 as England show grit in Australia while New Zealand face stark realitiesRugby union is not renowned as a perfect science but the symmetry of this month’s north v south contests has been striking. Four tours by Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, four narrow 2-1 outcomes, six Test wins apiece for each hemisphere and a collective points aggregate of 280 v 282. The margins across global rugby have never been tighter.Any one of half a dozen teams, as things stand, could win next year’s World Cup in France and the world’s No 1 ranked team is currently not South Africa, New Zealand or even France. Step forward Ireland, now officially first...
Wins for Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland have set up the prospect of some history-making in the southern hemisphereOne weekend of eye-raising rugby results does not necessarily change the world. Equally, there has never been a day to compare with Saturday. A clean sweep of wins for Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland against the southern hemisphere’s top four teams is unique in the game’s history, despite the south hosting all four of the fixtures.No Irish or Welsh team had previously won in, respectively, New Zealand and South Africa. Now here they both are, just one final push away from winning a best-of-three series. The same is true of England and Scotland, who also bounced back from first Test disappointment to...