The Daily Scare
The Haka is a Maori dance, which starts with the chant "Ka mate, ka mate (It is death, it is death”). It is both a war chant and a challenge and is customarily performed by the All Blacks before major games.
It is characterised by loud chanting, aggressive flailing of arms and stamping of feet, fierce looks and angry tongue poking. Those who have witnessed it will vouch for the fact that it is both inspiring, a bit demented and, in fact, quite rude
It is designed to wilt the resolve of opposing teams by convincing them they are about to engage in sport with a team of homicidal psychopaths.
Not to be outdone, English Rugby Union have produced their own traditional English response, a war dance of great antiquity, which they believe will convince opponents they are about to play people similarly unhinged and put the All Blacks completely off their game.
At a secret training camp, English players have been rigorously trained in the new dance and its simple but profoundly disturbing choreography. When England play New Zealand later this year, they plan to leash it upon their unfortunate opponents. The New Zealanders will be allowed to go first with their Haka and then the English players will then respond with their own dance.
Called the “Morris,” it is expected to completely break the concentration of the New Zealanders and to perform it, the English players will be using especially embroidered handkerchiefs for the first time.
Other dances were considered during the planning stage but in the end the Morris was chosen in preference to another traditional English dance known as the “Jive” as the latter occasioned too much risk of injury to the players.