Former All Blacks captain Andy Haden may have jeopardised his role as a rugby World Cup ambassador after claiming the Crusaders rugby franchise limited squad recruitment to three non-white players.

But he is not withdrawing the claims he made during a panel discussion on Sky TV's Deaker on Sport programme on Wednesday.

Crusaders management have strongly denied Haden's claims which also sparked a strong response from New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew.

Haden's appointment as an ambassador was made by rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully and a spokesman said this morning the minister intended reading a transcript of the Deaker programme before making any comment.

"Once they've recruited three, that's it. That's their ceiling. Three darkies ... no more," said Haden, who played 117 matches for the All Blacks between 1972-85 including 41 tests.

"In the Crusaders manual, there it is, it's enshrined in their articles, and they've stuck by that. And they know damn well that that's the case. And it's worked."

Haden told Radio New Zealand this morning he had embellished what another former All Black skipper Chris Laidlaw had said in a recently published book.

An unrepentant Haden clarified he was not talking about the exclusion of Maori players from the Crusaders but about Pacific Island players and admitted that he had probably overstepped the mark by saying the policy was "in the manual and enshrined in their articles".

"Yes, (the policy) set in stone and ..., that's wrong but the principle remains and this is an issue for New Zealand rugby."

He said where this policy was most obvious was in the make-up of the Canterbury academy.

"A past All Black friend of mine was rung by a Canterbury coach and asked about a player and at the time he said to him, `We can only have two or three (players of Pacific Island extraction) in our franchise and we want to integrate them slowly'.

"It is still going on - they want a franchise that has that flavour about it."

Tew on Thursday questioned Haden's suitability as one of six World Cup ambassadors.

"The decision to employ those ambassadors was the minister's - those comments might make one reconsider that appropriateness."

Haden said this morning the issue he had raised had nothing to do with his World Cup role.

Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach said Haden's claims were untrue.

"The whole damn thing is a fiction. It's completely untrue. I don't know what he is referring to. It's utterly untrue. It makes no sense to me," Riach told Radio Sport on Thursday.

"Our mission statement doesn't say that. It's an extraordinary claim that isn't based on any fact. I hope the story stops here with this denial."

Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder told NewstalkZB he had been involved with the Crusaders a long time, and he had never seen any evidence Haden was right.

"It was unfortunate the comments had been made because they brought the game into disrepute and hurt people and reputations," he said.

Blackadder said Haden should front up on his source if he was making such wild claims.

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