6 Sep 2016

Police haven't ruled out listening device was planted by All Blacks camp

10:50 am on 6 September 2016

The chief executive of New Zealand Rugby Steve Tew says he would be very surprised to learn the All Blacks bugged their own hotel in Sydney.

A listening device was discovered in the team's hotel ahead of last month's Bledisloe Cup in Sydney and the police in New South Wales are reportedly not ruling out the possibility someone in the New Zealand camp planted the device.

A police source has told the Sydney Morning Herald if it turned out to be someone within the New Zealand camp, they would "absolutely" look at criminally pursuing the matter.

Australia v New Zealand, Test Match Rugby. Played at ANZ Stadium, Sydney Australia on Saturday 20 August 2016. C

The All Blacks overran the Wallabies 42-8 in Sydney. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Tew says he's waiting for the police to complete their investigation.

'I'm suprised to read anything about this until the enquiry finished but I gues that's what happens and obviously we would be very suprised if there was any implication we'd done it ourselves but we'll let the New South Wales police go through their job," said Tew.

New South Wales police say they are still exploring a number of avenues as to who planted the device.

Its three weeks since the All Blacks found the device in their Double Bay hotel in the lead-up to the first Bledisloe test in Sydney.

The newspaper reported the police source as saying they had not ruled out anything out at this stage, "a lot of people are going to be spoken to" and they will treat every possibility, no matter how far-fetched it might sound, seriously.

Police said the device is not as sophisticated as initially thought and was operated by a battery with a short lifespan.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs

We have regular online commentary of local and international sport.