If Wallabies coach John Connolly's slamming of New Zealand's new haka was designed to get under the skin of the All Blacks before Saturday night's Bledisloe Cup clash it certainly worked.

New Zealand coach Graham Henry hit back Friday at the criticism of the Kapa O Panga, saying Connolly should keep his nose out of other people's business.

Connolly on Thursday expressed concern about the haka's apparent throat slitting gesture, saying it sent a murderous message not in keeping with the All Blacks' standing as high-profile role models.

Henry, though, said the All Blacks' pre-match challenge, a variation from the traditional Ka Mate haka, was not meant to be offensive and suggested that Connolly mind his own business.

"The actions in the haka are traditional Maori actions and what you interpret might be quite different to what they really mean and all those things have been gone into in great depth by people who make good decisions, by people who are responsible for the game in New Zealand," he said.

"To have people coming out outside of New Zealand and making statements about how we should keep our backyard tidy is a little bit irritating, particularly when their backyard is questionable sometimes.

"But we don't have the arrogance to get in there and tell them what they're doing wrong.

"It's 17 days, I think, or is it 18, since the haka was done in Christchurch (in the first Test). It's taken `Knuckles' (Connolly) 18 days to actually speak about it. I think it's a smoke screen for the Test match on Saturday, quite frankly, and not about role models at all.

"We take role modelling seriously."

The trans-Tasman war of words is bound to add extra spice to Saturday night's match at Suncorp Stadium which Australia must win to force a Bledisloe Cup decider in Auckland next month, and also to stay in the hunt for the Tri Nations trophy.

The All Blacks wouldn't reveal which haka they planned to use before the first Bledisloe Cup encounter in Brisbane in 10 years.

But, given the tourists are fuming over the hysteria the new haka has created and that they flatly denied they told Australian skipper George Gregan they wouldn't enact the throat slitting version before the Christchurch Test out of respect for the Wallabies, it's a fair bet the Kapa O Panga will be on show again.

Wallabies five-eighth Stephen Larkham told Sydney radio that former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga had told Gregan they wouldn't perform the Kapa O Panga in Christchurch.

Larkham also claimed he thought the All Blacks had changed their minds in protest over Channel Seven's advertising campaign prior to the Christchurch Test which showed the All Blacks performing the haka with superimposed handbags - a mickey-taking reference to the infamous Umaga-Chris Masoe handbag bashing in the bar incident.

"That wasn't the case," All Blacks captain Richie Mccaw said before Henry interjected with "goodness me, how pathetic. You don't believe all this rubbish."

Gregan later clarified what Umaga had told him, saying Larkham had got his years mixed up and that Umaga, in fact, told Gregan the All Blacks wouldn't perform the Kapa O Panga last year in Auckland, and they didn't.

Regardless, Gregan said his teammates didn't care what haka the All Blacks performed.

"We're very respectful of the haka and this new haka within the All Black team," he said.

"We saw it for the first time last year and we experienced it for the first time in Christchurch. It's part of playing the All Blacks and we're fully aware of that process and we'll be respectful tomorrow night and we'll get on and play, and that's the attitude within the playing group.

"And how Graham Henry or Richie McCaw and John Connolly want to play that, that's up to them."

Gregan added: "I don't think that whole (handbag) campaign of Channel Seven's helped. Personally, I found it - and I think the team did - disrespectful."

McCaw said the All Blacks would have no hesitation unleashing the Kapa O Panga on the Wallabies.

"The haka is about where we come from as New Zealanders and it's about what feels right for us. It doesn't matter who we're playing against, it's what we feel's right," he said.

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