I watched the recent England v. Samoa rugby league world cup match which was rather one-sided in the end, I thought. I only switched on with a couple of minutes of the introduction to go, but wasn't late enough to avoid the siva tau. This is another haka as The Sun explained*. It seems that this Samoan war dance was first used in 1991 after the rugby team switched from the more traditional maulu'ulu moa to a song they felt more effective in psyching up the players.
The English players managed to keep a straight face in the presence of much faux intimidation. The great David Campese showed one effective response; he used to kick a ball about behind the goals while the nonsense was going on in the middle of the pitch. Today he'd have been sanctioned for the high crime of cultural disdain.
That said, it's a great pity England doesn't have its own dance to perform. Maybe if they took up Morris Dancing it would ginger up the team's resolve: all those high jinx, bells and the thwack of sticks. I'm not sure what it does to the opposition, but it always frightens me.
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* Here are the lyrics of the siva tau:
Samoan
Samoa!
Tatou o e tau le taua!
Tau e matua tau!
Fai ia mafai!
Le Manu!
Team: Sau ia!
Le Manu Samoa e ua malo ona fai o le faiva
Le Manu Samoa e ua malo ona fai o le faiva
Le Manu Samoa lenei ua ou sau
Leai se isi Manu oi le atu laulau
Ua ou sau nei ma le mea atoa
O lou malosi ua atoatoa
Ia e faatafa ma e soso ese
Leaga o lenei manu e uiga ese
Le Manu Samoa
Le Manu Samoa
Le Manu Samoa e o mai I Samoa
Le Manu!
Samoa!
It is said that this is the English translation:
Let's go to the war!
Fight fiercely!
Work to achieve!
The Manu!
Let's go!
The Manu Samoa, may you succeed in your mission
The Manu Samoa, may you succeed in your mission
The Manu Samoa here we have come
There is no other Manu (team) anywhere
Here I come completely prepared
My strength is at its peak
Make way and move aside
Because this Manu is unique
The Manu Samoa
The Manu Samoa
The Manu Samoa reigns from Samoa
The Manu!
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I'm not so sure, suspecting that the whole thing is code for ways of bamboozling the referee to make sure that they think that forward passes are really level.
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