Scott Robertson and Joe Marler exchange words moments before haka

Despite not being selected for England this week, loosehead Joe Marler took centre stage with his comments regarding the haka.

There had been much talk as to how the All Blacks would respond to his now-infamous comments on X, but there seemed to be no bad blood between the Englishman and All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson ahead of the match at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium.

The 34-year-old was probably unaware of the onslaught of opprobrium he would face after writing on X this week: “The haka needs binning. It’s ridiculous,” followed up by “It’s only any good when teams actually front it with some sort of reply. Like the league boys did last week.”

After deleting his X account, then resurrecting it, Marler apologised on Thursday, writing: "Hey rugby fans. Just wanted to jump on here and say sorry to any New Zealand fans I upset with my poorly articulated tweet earlier in the week. I meant no malice in asking for it to be binned, just want to see the restrictions lifted to allow for a response without sanction.

"How good were the Cockerill/Hewitt, Campese, France ‘07, Tokyo ‘19 or Samoa vs England rugby league responses? Create some entertaining drama before kick-off. My flippant attempt at sparking a debate around it was s**thouse and I should have done better at explaining things.

"I’m grateful for the education received on how important the Haka is to the New Zealand culture and hope others have a better understanding too. Now roll on 3 pm on Saturday for a mega rugby occasion. England by 6pts I’ll get back in my attention seeking box now."

Robertson and Marler were all smiles as the teams warmed up pre-match, sharing a hug.

England head coach Steve Borthwick distanced himself from the comments pre-match, saying to TNT Sports:  "We respect the Haka, clearly it’s a tradition in rugby. But in no uncertain terms, the players are ready for the challenge, and they’ll accept the challenge no doubt."