A former New Zealand player has criticised the All Black team for their choice of Haka when facing Ireland in Soldier Field on Saturday.

It was the first time the Ireland team had played since the death of Anthony Foley and prop Craig Dowd believes his former team should have reflected that in their choice.

“Someone didn’t do their homework in the All Blacks camp,” O Dowd wrote in a column for ESPN.

“Knowing a little bit about the Irish mentality and having had a 64-Test cap veteran and ex-Munster coach Anthony Foley die recently, with all the players wearing black armbands and having a moment’s silence for him before the game, and knowing what that meant to the Irish team and the public, I thought pulling out the Kapa O Pango haka was disrespectful.”

The Kapa o Pango haka concludes with what looks like a “throat slitting” gesture by the participants and Dowd felt the squad should have chosen another in the circumstances.

“I’ve been to funerals and you do the Ka Mate haka to honour a warrior and it is different to doing the battle cry, or war cry, of Kapa O Pango.”

Ireland form figure 8 in memory of Axel Foley as they face the haka #TeamOfUs #shouldertoshoulder pic.twitter.com/ss0uo2iRJW

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) November 5, 2016

The Ireland team formed a figure of eight on the pitch as they faced the Haka, in honour of the number eight jersey Foley wore throughout his career.

They went on to win the match 40-29 and Down said the victory was fulle deserved: “The Irish went out and took it to the All Blacks.

“They were more physical than we were, they starved us of the ball and they punished us for not starting two decent lineout locks — it was their day.”

The two sides face each other again in the Aviva Stadium on November 19.