Luke McAlister has said the manner in which New Zealand took Italy to pieces was a repost to the manner in which they accepted the Haka.
The All Blacks centre said he and his team mates were angered by the fact Italy decided to go into a huddle rather than stand and watch the Ka Mate.
"It probably made us a little more angry," he told Stuff.nz.
"That's their choice. The traditional thing is to stand up and respect it and by them not doing that it was pretty disrespectful."
Chris Jack echoed the sentiments of McAlister.
"It's a challenge so you have to take it personally," he said.
"If you turn your back I would imagine the Maori people would see it as disrespectful.
"It doesn't worry us because we do it more for us, the guy next to us, rather than the opposition. But it was a little different."
Both ex-pat New Zealanders in the Italy side, Kaine Robertson and Paul Griffen admitted it was a mistake to not show the Haka respect. Although Italian captain Marco Bortolami was not so sure.
"I think we showed the All Blacks too much respect," he said.
"We talked about it before the match but I still think we showed them a little too much respect, especially at the beginning of the match."
www.planetrugby.com
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