An obsession with New Zealand rugby's traditional pre-test challenge shows no signs of diminishing as the All Blacks embark on their third Grand Slam attempt in five years.
Yet again the haka has been decried as the "instrument of the worst kind of sporting arrogance'' - and not for the first time by New Zealand rugby's harshest critic, Stephen Jones of the Sunday Times.
In his weekly column Jones reiterates his belief that the haka amounts to nothing more than a ridiculous bout of pre-game posturing that has no place in rugby today.
"The haka has changed, profoundly. The All Blacks and their followers have made it a self-important bore and instrument of the worst kind of sporting arrogance,'' Jones opines.
"And symbolically, it sometimes stops just short of an exhortation to murder. In one of its versions, it ends with the players making graphic throat-cutting gestures,'' he writes, neglecting to note Kapa o Pango was modified after former Wallabies coach John Connelly took exception before a Bledisloe Cup test in 2007.
Jones claims opposition towards the haka is growing citing nameless examples of: "One recent critic of the haka refers to a 'politically correct lunacy' and a 'cynical stage-managed circus'.
"Another calls the haka 'a bad joke' and another said the team performing it are like 'preening ninnies'.''
Jones bristles at the All Blacks' view on teams approaching the haka claiming "the rules are always conveniently changing'' _ "one day they are happy when teams advance on them. Another day, they rage that this is disrespectful.''
Jones was appalled the International Rugby Board fined Australia for advancing on the Black Ferns haka during the recent women's Rugby World Cup.
"Why? Apparently, there are IRB protocols (never publicly announced) which say the side facing the haka must stand like lemons a minimum of 10 metres away and not advance,'' Jones said.
"It does not actually state that they should lie down and allow the Blacks to walk all over them, but that is the spirit of the measure.''
The All Blacks, he believes, were at "their most ludicrous'' at the Millennium Stadium in 2006 when the Welsh Rugby Union stood their ground and demanded the haka precede the Welsh national anthem.
"New Zealand sulked to high heaven. They refused to do the haka on the field. Instead, they let an unofficial crew come into their dressing room and, eventually, put out a film of them performing the haka in the dressing room.
"In 2008, two years after the WRU had the temerity to ask that their own anthem in their own stadium should take priority, the Welsh team took another approach. After the haka they stood motionless and stared back. Again, New Zealanders complained - clearly prepared to dish out the call out to sporting war but not prepared to accept it when the call was taken up.''
Jones ends the column by apparently contradicting himself when declaring: "When will New Zealand realise that nobody cares anymore?"
Graham Henry evidently doesn't. When advised of Jones' 893-word argument the All Blacks head coach offered seven in reply: "I don't even comment about that anymore.''
