All Blacks meeting may have been recorded

A listening device planted in the All Blacks' Sydney hotel may have recorded a team meeting, New Zealand Rugby Union says.

The device was uncovered in a meeting room on Monday during a routine security check at the Intercontinental hotel in Sydney's Double Bay, where the All Blacks are staying, NZ Rugby Union chief Steve Tew says.

"There was an All Blacks team meeting there earlier in the week. If the device was working properly, and we don't know that for sure, then they would have overhead that," Tew told reporters outside the hotel on Saturday.

"But we don't think it's a catastrophic issue for the game tonight. We're going to get on with it."

Tew says he's spoken with Australian Rugby Union chief Bill Pulver who was "just as shocked as I was" at the bugging.

"We haven't made any accusations of anybody, so there's no room for denials," he said when asked if Australia had denied involvement in the incident.

Tew added that the All Blacks got the hotel to investigate before calling in police.