Screengrab/Planet Rugby
The All Blacks get set to perform a haka at the Caterpillar Valley cemetery near Longueval in France to honour New Zealand soldiers killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
The 2023 All Blacks Rugby World Cup squad performed a stirring haka at a French war cemetery to honour New Zealand soldiers killed at the Battle of the Somme – including an ex-All Black.
Lock Sam Whitelock laid an All Blacks jersey at foot of a memorial to New Zealand’s war dead at the Caterpillar Valley cemetery near Longueval in northern France on Thursday (Friday NZ time).
The gesture was in honour of Robert Stanley (Bobby) Black, a 1914 All Black who died at the Battle of the Somme on September 21, 1916, aged 23.
Black, a first five-eighth from Otago who had also represented Buller, played one test on the 1914 tour to Australia.
He was serving in the Canterbury Regiment as a corporal after earlier service for the Otago Mounted Rifles at the time of his death.
Black had first represented the South Island as a teenager in 1912.
A Planet Rugby report said the Caterpillar Valley memorial honours 1205 New Zealanders, who died in the first Battle of the Somme between July and November 1916, and for whom there was no known grave.
All Blacks captain Sam Cane, coach Ian Foster and veteran halfback Aaron Smith also delivered wreaths at Caterpillar Valley.
One bore the message “on behalf of the New Zealand All Blacks”.
The All Blacks have long paid tribute to New Zealand war dead while visiting France.
Todd Blackadder’s 2000 team visited the grave of 1905 All Blacks captain Dave Gallaher, who died at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.
Over 2000 New Zealanders died at the Battle of the Somme.
The All Blacks open the 2023 World Cup with a match against host nation France on Friday (Saturday NZ time).
