South African rugby's governing body has described what happened at Ellis Park as "highly regrettable".
SA Rugby chief executive Rian Oberholzer has apologised for the sequence of events that disrupted the All Black haka on Saturday's test against the Springboks at the venue.
"I apologised in person and have written to the NZRFU to formally express our regret and apologies for what occurred," said Oberholzer in a statement, after music was played, pyrotechnics were set off and an Emirates Airlines A380 also made a low pass over the stadium before the All Blacks had completed their rendition of Kapa O Pango.
Oberholzer stressed in a statement that it was due to human error.
"It was never the intention to schedule any activities that would coincide with such an iconic moment of any test match against the All Blacks. That it occurred was a result of timekeeping challenges and simple human error.
"In the confusion, the crowd's excited cheering was mistaken to have marked the conclusion of the Haka by an unsighted sound engineer who restarted the music programme. It was highly regrettable but in no way deliberate."
Oberholzer said that SA Rugby was distressed by the breach of protocol and the apparent display of lack of respect it may have suggested before the eventual 31-27 Springbok victory.
"We hold dear the values and traditions of the game," said Oberholzer. "The unfortunate events in no way represent any lack of respect that South African rugby holds for the significance and history of the Haka. We will ensure such errors cannot be repeated."
All Black assistant coach Jason Ryan said that the team had accepted the apology.
"In all honesty you sometimes get a bit of chaos around that. The South African players themselves stood there and respected it as they always do, it sounds like the officials are the ones who need the uppercut. So if they've apologised, it's fine."
Loose forward Ethan Blackadder said that it's "nice of them to apologise" but also acknowledged that "it's pretty hard to get the timing right for an aeroplane".
"Personally I didn't notice it. We were all just eyeing up our opponents."
The two teams meet in their second test at DHL Stadium in Cape Town this Sunday morning NZT.
Springboks v All Blacks
Kick-off: 3am Sunday 8 September
DHL Stadium, Cape Town
