Māori All Blacks filling their new jersey with Mauri

The Māori All Blacks are taking to the field this year, not only to win, but to honour the legacy of their tūpuna.

Coach Ross Filipo has named the 29-strong Māori All Blacks squad - 11 uncapped - to take on the Japan XV and Scotland.

Filipo (Muaūpoko) said it was challenging to put the team together, but the chosen squad are "hugely competitive".

"They're fiercely driven to succeed, and they've spent the last eight months competing against each other. We are incredibly blessed to have the squad we've put together because there where are a number of people who aren't sitting in the room today who were very very close."

Filipo said in order for the athletes to "thrive on the grass", they have to be in a space that makes them feel confident.

"When we talk around that spectrum of cultural understanding and connection, allowing everyone to be as they are within that, but also with the encouragement of the ones who are stronger to raise the others up, and the ones who are learning and turning over stones, and discovering their lineage to the willingness to learn and be open to learning."

He expressed how proud he was to see that 10 of the All Blacks squad announced on Monday are Māori, including two of last year's Māori All Blacks.

"This team grounds you, and it plants you where your feet are immediately. So you understand your purpose, because you live it. It is you and it probably helps re-centre yourself to aspire to achieve other goals. Not necessarily better, but other goals."

'A special team'

Leading the boys on the pitch this year is Bay of Plenty and Blues Hooker Kurt Eklund (Ngāti Kahu), who was named as the Māori All Blacks captain.

The 32-year-old Aucklander has donned the jersey for six years, and said every year gets better and better.

"I find out a little bit more about myself and my culture and I get more confident coming into these environments."

Eklund still remembers reciting his pēpeha for the first time in front of his teammates, or as he said, "a room full of Māori's".

"I'm pretty green myself and it was one of the most nervous things I've done, I think I've nailed that now, but I know some of these boys who are in the team for the first time there will be a few nerves floating around."

But the camaraderie is there and te ao Māori is heavily embraced amongst the players regardless of where they are at on their reo journey.

"The different levels that the boys come in some are fluent in te reo, some are pretty green like myself, but we're all Māori which is awesome and that's something we can all connect with, and it makes it an awesome environment.

"It's such a special team to be a part of and one that I'm really proud of."

Carrying on the legacy

Each time Eklund returns to the Māori All Blacks scenes, his connection to his mother's Ngāti Kahu whakapapa deepens.

"My mum passed away a year before I made this team and it's her whakapapa that I represent so everytime I put on this jersey I know that I'm playing for her and representing her."

He said if his mum was still here, she would have been standing by his side during the panel interview.

"She was always such a proud mum, and I am just grateful that she set me in good stead to get to where I am today and carry that legacy on."

New Zealand was getting a lot better at encouraging Māoridom, he said, and there were more pathways for tamariki and rangatahi.

"If you've got goals, whether it's rugby or passions just follow it because if it's a passion you love it becomes easy.

"Especially as a Māori rugby player, channel that and don't shy away from that."

Last year the team finished its two-game season with a win and a loss against Japan XV. Eklund said this year's goal was to "bring home the dubs".

"To be able to go out there and set things straight. We represent our culture as well but the ultimate goal is to win, that's the best way we can represent everyone back home."

A new taonga

The Māori All Blacks will take the field this season wearing Te Tauihu Matua, a new jersey rich in whakapapa and meaning.

Designed by Ngāti Tūwharetoa artist Kahurangi Falaoa, the jersey was shaped through kōrero with players, past and present, kaumātua, and rising talent coming through the ranks.

"It was an honour to be the artist for the jersey for our team," Falaoa said, acknowledging the late Māori All Blacks kaumātua Luke Crawford as a guiding influence.

Te Tauihu Matua replaces the previous design by renowned Māori artist Dave Burke and Crawford.

"This team is special to all our iwi, to all our hapū, to all our whānau. When the team takes the field, they represent all of us," Falaoa said.

The Chiefly Bow and paddling as one

The name of the taonga 'Te Tauihu Matua' is a direct representation of leadership and is a reference to a well-known whakataukī by Māori leader Dr Apirana Mahuika:

E tu ki te kei o te waka, kia pakia koe e nga ngaru o te wa - Stand at the stern of the canoe and feel the spray of the future biting at your face.

"Matua as a stative however, also means 'main, primary, chief," Falaoa said.

"Together, Te Tauihu Matua becomes The Chiefly Bow. To stand with courage and face the challenges that lay ahead."

The jersey features a waka taua front-on, diverging from the usual side depictions, and symbolises unity, forward movement, and collective strength.

"When I asked the boys why a waka... their whakaaro was that they were all on the waka together, they all paddled together," Falaoa said,

"If you paddle competitively in waka ama, everyone has to get every stroke in before they get to the finish line.

"If they miss one, that could mean the difference between coming first or coming third or fourth, if you miss one stroke. That's all it takes."

At this level,he said, it was about being 100 percent, 100 percent of the time.

"They all move together. Together as one, putting their paddles into the water at the same time, taking them out at the same time, and not missing a beat."

The new taonga incorporates four key design elements, and each one holds its own narrative.

Tētēkura, the carved figurehead, is shown piercing the waves, leading the way and is a visual representation of the many challenges of the awa and moana, "setting an example for those that follow."

Two manaia represent the balance between Māori atua - Tūmatauenga (god of war and humanity) and Rongo (god of peace and diplomacy).

In te ao Māori, a manaia is also seen as a kaitiaki (guardian) who can cross between the realms of the living and the dead.

The kōwhaiwhai pattern, Pūhoro, speaks to agility and speed, while Te Ara Poutama - a design only found on the player jerseys - symbolises the pursuit of excellence, representing the climb that Māori atua, Tāne, took to retrieve the baskets of knowledge.

Tāne, the god of forests and birds, is the son of Ranginui and Papatūānuku, the sky father and earth mother.

The new kākahu was blessed in Wellington and will be worn for the first time against Japan XV on 28 June, before returning home to Whangārei to face Scotland on 5 July.

Looking back to move forward

Falaoa also paid tribute to the late Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, and said while te ao Māori may be facing a rise of challenges, there is strength within kotahitanga (unity).

"We'll go back to the words of Kiingi Tuheitia, whakapiri, whakakotahi, come together and find strength in ourselves, and we move forward together as one."

He said even though those words may be simple, they hold deep meaning.

"Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu,"

"Even though there are a lot of things that are challenging us, we just look to our tīpuna. Tō whakamuri, look to the past. Observe, in order to go forward. Neke ki mua."

"It's a challenging time. But things like this, we can celebrate."

More than a jersey

The team's head coach Ross Filipo acknowledged Falaoa's incredible mahi and said the design tells a story about each player's connection to their own iwi and hapū.

"Unlike other jerseys in the world, that is our culture," he said.

"The waka on the front represents every person's individual waka that they belong to, but it's all coming together as one jersey and one physical representation of us as people.

"That adds a different weight to it, I believe, because every time you take the pitch, you take with you all your ancestors, and they're standing right there with you, which is a hugely powerful piece.

"It's something that all these players are fortunate enough to draw from when they're standing in the heat of battle."