New Zealand will not be lacking motivation with squad feeling disrespected and England can expect a backlash

There are all sorts of ways a team might get ready for a big match against the All Blacks. Fair to say that the tactic of actively going out of your way to pissing them off, which is the one England seem to have gone for this week, comes in a way down the list. Joe Marler’s tweet that the haka is “ridiculous” and “needs binning” have gone down like cold sick with New Zealanders. “I’m wondering if he wishes he could have articulated himself a little bit better,” said their head coach Scott Robertson on Thursday. “The haka is not just about the All Blacks, it is about New Zealand as a country, it means a lot to us.”

Robertson said he didn’t have to pin Marler’s clippings onto the dressing room wall, social media meant his players already knew all about it. “The boys are aware of it,” Robertson said, and while he didn’t want to go so far as saying they would be using it as motivation, he did say “we’ll discuss, and decide how we’ll deal with it. Respectfully.” It was a bit like listening to the white tigers’ team talk about how they were going to deal with Siegfried & Roy.