Irish writer Ewan MacKenna has again taken aim at the All Blacks' haka, with the two sides currently preparing for this weekend's Rugby World Cup quarter-final in Tokyo.
Last month, writing for Pundit Arena , MacKenna called for the end of the haka as a pre-match tradition for the All Blacks, describing it as "completely overdone."
Naturally, MacKenna's comments did not sit well with New Zealanders, the Irishman appearing on TVNZ 1's Seven Sharp to clarify his comments.
However, with just three days until the highly anticipated quarter-final between the All Blacks and Ireland, MacKenna has again taken aim at the haka, even going as far as describing it as a marketing tool.
"I cannot speak for Māori people, but looking in from the outside I find it culturally a little bit insulting," MacKenna told Stuff .
"I think Saatchi & Saatchi were brought in by Adidas when I think no one really cared about the haka, in the early 2000s, and all of a sudden they decided to monetise this for New Zealand Rugby by getting 15 white fellas to dance around doing it.
Tamati Rimene-Sproat spoke with Ewan MacKenna.
"I know the haka was there all along, but you go back to the 1970s versions where it was 30 seconds long and there was no real passion in it. It kind of grew to a minute and a half and on billboards, advertising and all these things.
"It struck me as cashing in on someone else's culture to a point."
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