Te Kapa Haka o Ngāti Whakaue won the Toa Whakaihuwaka title at Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga 2025. Ngāti Whakaue were the eighth of 12 teams to perform at the Pukekura/Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth. The team were joint runners up in 2023 but went one better this year as they dedicated their performance to Sir Robert Gillies, the last surviving member of the Māori Battalion during the second world war, who died in November 2024. Speaking after the performance, Ngāti Whakaue's leader, Te Ngāwari Wright, said: 'One thing that we changed from the last Matatini was to bring our ideas together into a cohesive theme, that is love. After the passing of our elder'