The New Zealand Men’s Sevens team unleashed their new haka for the first time when they were welcomed into their first Olympic Village today.
The new haka - Tū: Te Toa o Te Riri – came about because the team wanted a haka that reflected the culture of the team after performing 'Ka Mate' for many years.
“Ka Mate has a special place for the team for many years since we only perform it when we win," NZ sevens captain Scott Curry said. "We've also been keen for some time to develop our own haka so that we can express our own identity.
“We have put a lot of effort over the last year on our team culture and one of the things was to learn a new haka that was special to our team. We talked about the things that were important to us.”
Well-known kapa haka performer Anaru Grant and composer and broadcaster Scotty Morrison then collaborated to produce Tū: Te Toa o Te Riri.
“The welcome was awesome. It was great to have the New Zealand team haka us in and we felt it appropriate to respond with our haka that we’ve been working on. It was pretty special for the team.
“This was the first time we’ve done it publicly. It was a special occasion being welcomed into our first Olympic Village and we were excited and I was a little bit nervous.”
Curry said the team were impressed with their first look at the Olympic Village and the team would spend a day “getting their bearings” before their final preparations for competition which starts on 9 August, after the three-days of the women’s sevens.
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