WILLIE MASON: "I WAS TRYING TO SING ALONG"

Willie Mason 'singing along to the haka '(left) and (right) after greeting David Kidwell.

Willie Mason has apologised for upsetting New Zealanders with a stream of obscenities during the haka at Saturday's Kiwis vs Kangaroos Rugby league test saying "Honest I was just trying to sing along."
The mountainous Aussie prop who was caught on TV mouthing, "What the f*ck is that?" says he couldn't hear the words of the haka because of the noise of the crowd, and was genuinely enquiring what words he had missed hearing.
"We had been singing 'Advance Australia Fair,' on the bus and I really got into the mood for a sing-song. I would have loved to have sung along with the haka too. I could see that little Abo-come-Kiwi Brent Webb there in the front row having a great time and I shouted out to him, 'F*ck off Webby. Your singing too fast. I can't keep up."
The incident has brought considerable debate in rugby league circles with some Australian commentators defending Mason's response to the haka as a 'spirited response to an intimidatory challenge.'
Meanwhile Kiwi second rower David Kidwell whose encounter with a ball-carrying Mason left the big man sporting a black-eye, cuts and dizziness told the Kiwi Herald that his attempt to hongi the big man was perhaps a little over-enthusiastic.

Glossary: Hongi : A traditional Maori greeting involving the pressing of noses.