New Zealand coach Graham Henry said he was glad to have "some reality" at the scrum after the world referees' chief slammed Australian referee Stuart Dickinson's display in their match against Italy.

Paddy O'Brien, director of elite referees at the International Rugby Board, visited the All Blacks at their London hotel on Tuesday to tell them their complaints over the way in which Dickinson had policed the scrum in their 20-6 win in Milan last weekend were justified.

O'Brien, himself a New Zealander and a former Test referee, then took the even more extraordinary step of publicly saying Dickinson's repeated penalising of the All Blacks at the scrum was "completely wrong".

He also told the stuff.co.nz website: "We've got to be fair to teams. If the referee is not accurate we've got to put our hand up.

"We need to educate that referee and get him better, because that scrummaging on Saturday was not up to international standard."

Henry, speaking after announcing his team to play England at Twickenham this weekend, told reporters in London on Wednesday: "It's good to have some reality, some truthfulness. The scrum has been a problem for some time.

"If you get two teams who want to scrum, and scrum immediately, it makes for a good game of football."

Former Wales and British and Irish Lions coach Henry, added: "I'm sure the guys are pleased it's happened, I'm sure England are too.

"The guys do a lot of work during the week and they want to do it right (scrum) at the weekend and when it doesn't happen, it's a frustration.

"I'm pleased the issue has been brought to the surface and not swept under the carpet."

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