PUMPED UP: TJ Perenara performs a haka for the All Blacks before this year's Eden Park test against England.

Proud All Blacks halfback TJ Perenara has admitted the haka pumped him up so much it led to him making mistakes in games.

The prematch ritual was the topic of a lengthy article in the USA Today newspaper on Wednesday as it tried to explain the meaning of the haka to an American audience ahead of the All Blacks' match against the United States Eagles in Chicago this weekend.

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The national newspaper reverted back to the American basketball team's dismay as they faced a haka from the Tall Blacks at the world championships in Spain earlier this year, not knowing how to react.

Halfback Perenara was happy to put his take on the Maori dance and confessed he'd had to make adjustments as his career has progressed.

"I did a lot of work so I could do the haka really well, and then bring myself down to be in the game," Perenara told USA Today.

"I was making mistakes. Trying to do too much. Trying to make too many tackles, and in my position, you don't make a lot of tackles."

Perenara said the haka was a bonding moment more than an intimidation weapon.

"Since I was growing up, the haka was about the people I was with. It was about us being together. It wasn't too much about the crowd or the opposition. It was more for the camaraderie of each other.

"A lot of people envision it as a war dance. The way I see it, it's something to unify us as a team.''

USA Today also went to Paora Sharples, a professor of Maori Studies at the University of Auckland, for a cultural explanation.

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