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The draw for the Te Matatini Festival 2012 in Waiohika
has been announced.
There will be 14 groups in each pool
and the three winning teams from each pool
will go on to the final day.
Kingi Kiriona has this report.
Te Roopu Manutaki is one of two haka teams
that have attended every national competition since its inception,
and have won first place twice.
Despite that, their leader is a little concerned
about the pool they have been given.
We will be a hard task competing against all those prominent groups.
There are eight teams, as prominent as Te Roopu Manutaki, a top 10 team,
in this pool known as Te Ihu.
Five of those have taken part in a finals.
And three are past winners of the competition.
There are also other teams in the pool that have won aggregate items
like the action song and poi.
Every pool is challenging, but what can we do?!
Is it the death pool?
I don't think so.
I have no real concerns.
It is up to each group to do their best to win their pool.
Last year, four former champions were placed in the same pool.
However, next year, Te Arawa are the fortunate ones.
Four Te Arawa teams are in the same pool.
In the Haumi pool, there are four East Coast teams.
There are 42 teams in total.
As there are so many, Te Matatini will begin
on Wednesday 16th February and each pool will have one day each.
Kingi Kiriona, Te Karere.