Six All Blacks have been fined and reprimanded by team management for a late night drinking binge in the lead-up to Saturday's Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations rugby decider against Australia.

The players — who were not involved in the match squad of 22 for New Zealand's 26-12 victory at Eden Park — had been out "unacceptably late," All Blacks manager Darren Shand said.

A hotel guest slipped a note under the door of coach Graham Henry to alert him to the fact that the players returned to the team's hotel at 4am Friday morning.

Conrad Smith, John Schwalger, Troy Flavell, Rico Gear, Ross Filipo and Piri Weepu were each fined NZ$500 ($395).

Shand said the players broke protocols and let their team-mates down by returning about four hours later than an unofficial curfew.

"The management and the 22 guys who played today are really disappointed. They've let us down.

"At the end of the day they haven't done anything wrong other than getting home late but we don't see that as an acceptable time to be out before the most important Test match of the year."

Shand said the behaviour of the six was particularly disappointing considering the All Blacks have had to make late changes to their starting line-ups twice this season.

Lock Keith Robinson and wing Sitiveni Sivivatu suffered injuries during the warm-ups for Tests against France and South Africa respectively.

"There's countless examples where players have been called up at the last minute — they (non-selected players) have a programme to adhere to — that's why it's even more disappointing," Shand said.

AFP