The Maori All Blacks rugby union team showed their class over the weekend in a tour match against the Irish provincial team, Munster, with this gesture honouring the team's recently deceased coach Anthony Foley.As the Maori prepared to unleash the haka, four players from the team, lead by Ash Dixon, walked forward to lay a jersey baring Foley's initials on the ground in front of them. The Munster crowd responded with an emotional applause before the jersey was then given to Foley's two sons, Dan and Tony, following the haka.The Munster coach was found dead in a Paris hotel room last month in the lead up to his team's clash with Racing 92. A coroner's report found he had died from a fluid build up in his lungs due to a heart condition. His unexpected passing sent shockwaves through the international rugby community.Munster would go onto record an emotional victory over the Maori All Blacks, 27-14, continuing Ireland's incredible run against the kiwis following the national side's breaking of a 111-year drought with their win over the All Blacks in Chicago last weekend.That game also featured a tribute to Foley with Irish players forming a figure eight as they faced up to the haka, in honour of the number warn by the Munster coach in his playing days for the Irish national side.Former All Blacks great, Craig Dowd, went as far as criticising the All Black's choice of the "aggressive" Kapo O Pango haka against the Irish national team, saying they should have opted for the more reverent Ka Mate haka in honour of Foley's passing."I've been to funerals and you do the Ka Mate haka to honour a warrior and it is different to doing the battle cry, or war cry, of Kapo O Pango which is a more aggressive challenge," he wrote in a column for ESPN.
Advertisement