Benji blasts Brits over haka disrepect

DARREN PATEMAN/Sydney Morning Herald

BENJI BLAST: New Zealand's Benji Marshall has blasted England for disrepsecting the haka before their World Cup match in Newcastle.

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Benji Marshall blasted the Poms for "disrespecting” the haka, Stephen Kearney was bemused by Tony Archer's refereeing but the health of Steve Matai was the main concern following the Kiwis' confidence building 36-24 World Cup defeat of England at EnergyAustralia Stadium last night.

Matai was rushed to hospital after his neck was caught awkwardly making a tackle in the 30th minute, with Kiwis doctor Simon Mayhew fearing a potential fracture.

That was the worst case scenario though, with medical staff immobilising the gutsy centre, who wanted to play on and ''not let his mates down.''

Matai underwent precautionary scans last night but the picture will become clearer today.

Mayhew said the injury was completely separate to Matai’s existing AC joint shoulder problem.

"When he left here he still had pain in his neck and sensation down his right arm and that’s enough… to say he potentially has a fracture there," Mayhew said last night.

"We've got to rule that out before we start moving him around.

"He was moving his legs, he had normal sensations down there – all good signs but the two things that he had were a hot burning feeling in his right arm and that real localised pain centrally in his neck and it’s really important to get an X-ray.

"Steve was gutted, he was disappointed, he thought he was letting his mates down."

Mayhew said the best case scenario was that Matai would simply have a sore neck for a couple of days and could still be cleared to line up in Saturday’s semifinal in Brisbane.

Meanwhile, Kearney was delighted at New Zealand’s 22-0 second half shutout of England after he blasted their defence in the sheds.

Ironically, it was the Storm assistant coach’s turn to complain of opposition wrestling tactics after being led to believe pre-match that Archer would heavily penalise any excessive holding down at the play of the ball.

"We just need to be made clear on what the situation is with the play of the ball,” Kearney said.

"If that’s going to be the standard that’s set – then okay, we'll be doing wrestling training all week."

Marshall, who had an emotional night captaining his country for the first time, grew in stature as the match progressed.

He hit out at England ignoring the haka and forming a huddle and admitted it might have affected the Kiwis negatively.

''To be honest I thought it was a little bit disrespectful, a few of the boys said that as well but if that’s how they want to approach the game then that’s their choice,'' Marshall said.

"It might have upset a few of the boys and maybe we could have started a bit better – worrying about ourselves rather than worrying about them.''

England coach Tony Smith, who chose to rest key players Leon Pryce, James Roby, James Graham, Danny McGuire and Ade Gardner, was downcast in defeat.

''Disappointing, very disappointing. I'm a bit angry about it, we’re all angry about it.''