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Joe Marler deletes his X account after blasting 'ridiculous' haka
By Liam Heagney
England prop Joe Marler has deleted his X account following his controversial Tuesday night take on the New Zealand haka. The loosehead was excluded earlier in the day from Steve Borthwick’s match day 23 for this Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series opener versus the All Blacks at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
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Ellis Genge, who missed the summer tour to Japan and New Zealand, was named as the starting loosehead with Fin Baxter providing cover from the bench.
That left the 34-year-old Marler as one of 13 players in the England squad of 36 surplus to requirement for the first of four November matches, a schedule that also has games in London versus Australia, South Africa and Japan.
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Taking to X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, Marler posted two messages. “The haka needs binning. It’s ridiculous,” he wrote in his initial post.
This was followed by a second message. “It’s only any good when teams actually front it with some sort of reply. Like the league boys did last week.”
Joe Marler is giving the All Blacks some motivation ahead of this weekend ? #rugby pic.twitter.com/olgd1uv7NI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 30, 2024
Marler’s reference to league was the England versus Samoa game in Wigan last Sunday where the Samoans performed their pre-game dance while eye-balling their English opponents in a head-to-head stand-off. In contrast, New Zealand traditionally perform their haka in rugby union with the opposition standing in their own half of the pitch.
England were fined in 2019 after contravening the rule ahead of the Rugby World Cup semi-final in Japan, with Marler part of the match day 23 that went across the line. Following the overnight controversy ignited by his two posts, the front-rower has now gone nuclear and deleted his X account.
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