Maori All Stars team race clock to nail new rendition of haka

The Maori All Stars team is racing the clock to perfect a new rendition of the famous haka before Friday night’s game against the Indigenous side in Melbourne.

Vision was leaked on social media on Tuesday of the Maori players running through a rehearsal of the war cry which they will perform at AAMI Park before the game.

While a lot of the players looked comfortable performing the traditional war cry, there was a handful who looked a little out of sorts.

And it’s easy to understand why.

Dane Gagai has never represented his Maori heritage before, and so has never performed a haka properly.

His Maori teammate Kalyn Ponga hasn’t performed one since he was a pre-teen schoolboy.

“I think there was a few of us in the same boat. It’s a new haka and obviously learning it is a bit of a process,” Gagai said on Tuesday.

“Luckily we’ve got a bit of time and we’ve got a great teacher guiding us through it. It felt good, I’m very excited to learn it and get as best as I can at it.”

Ponga is equally out of sorts when trying to learn the war cry.

While he lived in New Zealand as a youngster and has Maori heritage, he has pledged his rugby league allegiance to Queensland and Australia.

“I’ve been learning over the last couple of days. I haven’t done the haka in like eight years,” he said.

“I still haven’t got it down pat but I’ll be ready to go on Friday.”

Gagai and Ponga have three days to nail down the haka before they will be asked to perform it in front of the All Stars crowd.